


Loose Ends

by yourfriendblossom



Series: The Guardians Are A Big Crazy Family and You Know It [1]
Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: #ADisneyFanSoCommittedToADreamworksFilmThey'reWritingAboutIt, Attempt at Humor, Basically a lot of family stuff, Blood, Blood and Injury, Canon - Book & Movie Combination, Canonical Pairings Only, Character Death, Dedicated to William Joyce & Peter Ramsey., E. Aster Bunnymund Is Bad At Feelings, Earth Is The By-Product Of Another World's Apocalypse, Either I Can't Write Jack Frost Or He's Finally Having Mood Swings (Only Took Him 315 Years), Empath Kozmotis Pitchiner, Everyone Needs A Hug, Everything is a work in progress, Fainting, Families of Choice, Family Angst, Family Dynamics, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Gravy That's A Lot Of Tags, Guardians of Childhood Spoilers, Headcanon, How Do I Tag, I Accidentally Made Mother Nature Terrifying, I Need the OCs to Progress the Story But I Swear They Won't Be Trash, I Tried, I WROTE 20 402 WORDS?! Oh well I'm gonna yeet most of them with my next update, I Wasn't Going to Add Original Characters But It Was Inevitable Once I Ventured Into the Bookverse, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, IMMA FINISH THIS THING IF IT KILLS ME, Jack and Koz are buddies., Jack being Jack, Koz has amnesia, Koz is friends with pretty much everyone, Kozmotis Just Wants To Have A Cup Of Tea Like Any Normal Person, Kozmotis May Be A Bit Of A Pansy But He's Not Faint-Hearted, Kozmotis Pitchiner Returns, My Fantastic Organization Skills (Sarcasm XD)., No Smut, North Is The Crazy Grampa, North is really funny, On Temporary Hiatus While I Retrieve My Muse, Only rated TAU 'cos I don't know what it will be by the time I'm finished., Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Relationships, Post-Rise of the Guardians (2012), Protective E. Aster Bunnymund, Quote: Magic's just science we don't understand yet (M.C. Clarke), Rating May Change After Next Chapter, Rise of the Guardians (2012) Spoilers, Sandy knows who Koz is. And so does Bunny. But neither of them are telling., Sandy's sand symbols have double meanings, Sophie Being Cute, Tags May Change, The Elves Follow Each Other (And Koz) Around Like Ducks…Because I Say So. (Muahahahaha), This is darker than it was supposed to be - like: "WOW; I did not mean to write this", Tooth And Sandy Are The Eccentric Aunts/Uncles, Tooth Is So Done With Jack, Tooth has gotten over her mini-crush on Jack('s teeth) - I think., Trying To Get You Guys The Quality You Deserve, War, Watch the movie again and tell me Bunny isn't Jack's big brother., When I Say "Book & Movie Combination" The Book Events Are More An Adaptation Of Themselves, When I Watched This Movie For The First Time I Thought Pitch Was Murdered In His Sleep, Ya'll Tell Me After The Next Chapter If The Rating Needs Changing, no beta we die like fools, what have i gotten myself into?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22045894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourfriendblossom/pseuds/yourfriendblossom
Summary: What if most of the creatures controlling Pitch decided to leave on their own? What would happen? Would he go back to being who he was before? What adventures would they have if he did? How would he be effected if he didn't?IMPORTANT: Just so you know, I couldn't abandon this fic if I tried because I have the plot entirely figured out. If something is late, it's either because I'm lazy, my family is delaying me, or The Godsdammed Cursor is out to get me.IMPORTANT: I'm going to be going back over the previous chapters I've written before posting more so I can fix any mistakes and change a few things I didn't like - DON'T WORRY! I will NOT be changing the plot, just fixing grammatical errors and stuff like that, replacing lines I thought didn't work properly or sounded wrong (only a few in total) and adding in stuff I meant to put in but forgot about or didn't know at the time. Sorry in advance for inconsistent updates.Ya'll had best not read until the "hiatus" tag is removed. I just need a bit of a break from this fandom.
Relationships: Kozmotis Pitchiner/Lady Pitchiner
Series: The Guardians Are A Big Crazy Family and You Know It [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700485
Comments: 13
Kudos: 23





	1. The Discovery.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What would happen if almost all of the Fearlings were to leave Pitch's body? (For those who didn't know, Fearlings are monsters from an age long past who feed on fear and possessed Pitch Black countless millennia ago.) Would he go back to who he was before? What would happen then?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES! HAHAHA! I have finally triumphed over my nemesis, The Godsdammed Cursor, and fullfilled my quest of Fixing Most Of The Problems With The Stupid Chapter.  
> Starting to dread fixing up the next one, though.  
> I swear The Godsdammed Cursor hates me...  
>  **Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable settings, characters, etc, are the property of their respective owners. The original plot and any original characters are the property of the author of this story, yourfriendblossom. (that is, me) I, (yourfriendblossom) am in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any previously copyrighted material.  
>  This was written purely for entertainment purposes, no copyright infringement is intended. **

**Preface**

They were beginning to get worried.

The vessel was dying. They would have to find somewhere else to reside soon, but it had been ever so long since it had been a "they" and not a "him", so they were confused. It was so hard to control the vessel when they were no longer using it's brain to think together. It was like ten thousand people trying to use the same thing all at once since they had been torn apart into their original forms, and the vessels original inhabitant was getting uppity in their time of weakness, trying to take control of the vessel since it had become impossible to withhold it's memories. The vessel had been stumbling around the United States for the past week once they had escaped the Nightmares, not completely under either the original inhabitant's control or theirs. By the time they had finally managed to subdue it and push it into the very back of it's own consciousness, the vessel had completely run out of energy and had collapsed onto the ground somewhere in Kansas. (Not that they payed any attention to what places where called.)

_What shall we do?_

_We will have to vacate the vessel and regroup._

_But we are too weak to bind together and possess another, and if we leave, the vessel will keep it's memories and will be practically impossible_ _to reclaim!_

_One of us should stay behind and keep it under control while the rest of us rest and heal. Our presence is smothering it. If it dies, it could take us millennia to grow strong enough to overpower another, but if it grows well again in our absence, we can move back in very soon!_

_But who will stay?_

_The strongest of us, of course._

_What memories should they withhold? They will influence it's actions, if it knows certain things, it will do something we don't want it to, and one of us can only withhold so much._

_It's memories of it's time as Pitch Black and the one before should be taken, any languages it knows are fine, general knowledge of this planet, like what creatures are called and so on is fine, but don't let it know too much, and whatever you do, don't let it remember anything about HER._

And so all but one of the ten thousand Fearlings flowed out of every pore of the vessel's skin, leaving only one to guard the original inhabitant's memories, and if there were anyone who believed about to see, they would have been assumed insane had they shared their story. 

Black dust that seemed to suck the light out of its surroundings rose from Pitch Black like smoke from a fire and dissolved into the night. It slid out from under his fingernails with the barely perceptible hissing, slithering sound of sand moving over sand, dislodging itself from the fibres of his clothing, unwrapping its clutches from around his heart and brain, bleeding from his mouth, ears, nose, the corners of his eyes and from his cuts like blood, and streaming from his skin in sheets. 

Inside the cavity of his chest, with a shudder, his lungs expanded, blood started to flow through his veins, and the organ that pumped it twitched twice and convulsed. 

Then, Pitch Black's cold, dead heart sputtered into life, and beat for the first time in over four and a half billion years. 

***

Jack was flying somewhere over Kansas when he saw it. He skidded to a stop, almost crashing into a chimney, and did a U-turn in midair, going back to see if he was right. Sure enough, there was a figure lying face-down and staying very still. It wasn't the fact that they appeared to be dead, or at least unconscious right beside someone's porch that made him stop and go back to look (he had seen plenty of that sort of thing before, being over three hundred years old) nor was it their strange attire (a dark blue-grey coat that reached down past their knees with silver decorations in the style of a marching band member, or a soldier of a nation that had once ruled over half the world, or so it seemed) but rather the fact that a woman had just put a bag of trash in the bin near the front gate and was now walking right past the unconscious person in her yard as though she couldn't see him. Sure, it was dark, and she might be distracted, but Jack thought _anyone_ would be jolted out of their stupor by a lump in _that_ shape brushing their foot...   
Unless, of course, she _couldn't_ see them and her foot had gone right through... 

  
That would make the figure like him. A spirit. A human or other given immortality and a role in the workings of the mess that was the universe.   
  
The body's arms twitched in towards itself a bit and it moaned, pulling its chin down to its chest and arching it's back slightly where it lay on the ground before collapsing back to the dirt. Jack reached out with his staff to see if, by any chance, he might be able to help this person (or spirit) although he thought the piece of wood would _probably_ go right through.

But, to his surprise, when he poked him in the back (he had decided the prone figure was male) he met with resistance. He jerked backwards in surprise for a moment, staring at the man, before reaching out with his hand to turn him onto his side so his face wasn't being pressed into who-knows-what and he could get a better look. To his surprise (and concern) he was ridiculously light and easy to turn over. But Jack was even more shocked when he saw his face.   
  
It was Pitch. 

Jack fell over backwards and crawled away at top speed before realising with a face palm that if Pitch was so weak he couldn't even move he wasn't exactly likely to try and kill him. In fact, the only one who should be alarmed in this situation was probably Pitch, and he seemed to have lost consciousness again.

"Idiot." He muttered. 

He could see, even in the dim illumination from the porch light, that there were multiple cuts and markss on his face, neck and hands, and he was almost deathly pale. Jack frowned and propped him up against the side of the stairs, out of the light, and quickly checked if he was still breathing. (he didn't really know what he would have done if he wasn't, did Pitch even _need_ to breathe?). As an afterthought, he froze his right wrist against the wall in a cuff, far enough down that it was in a relaxed position, and strong so he wasn't getting up anytime soon. As he worked getting it nice and thick and cold so it wouldn't melt before he came back he thought about where he was going. Somewhere close and easy to get to. He hadn't been able to convince Bunny to show him more than one way into the Warren yet, and the one he had was pretty much on the other side of the planet. That left Sandy, Tooth and North, and out of the three, he was pretty sure North's was the closest. Besides, Sandy and Tooth's places were a little too warm for his taste. Sure, it wasn't like he would melt or something, but he had always found the cold so much more fun, and he got a headache if he stayed out in the heat too long. Oops, mind wandering again.   
When he was sure that Pitch was comfortable and not going to crawl off before he could come back with help, he took off, memorising the place and quickest route back as he flew towards the North Pole and wondered why Pitch was so pale and thin. 

  
*** 

When Jack had finally gotten them into the sleigh after promising them a good reason for "hualin' us all the bloody way out there to help _Pitch_ , of all people!" and they had finally arrived, Bunny took the liberty of repeating his earlier question:  
"Why the _bloody hell_ should we help him?" 

"Be-because anyone deserves help when they're in this state! I mean, look at him!"   
"Ooh, I'm lookin' alright, and I see our worst enemy, who ruined Easter, framed you, broke your staff, stole the teeth, kidnapped the fairies, traumatised the elves, absorbed Sandy and tried to kill everyone!" Bunny walked straight up to Jack, advancing a few steps and poking a claw into his chest with every wrongdoing.   
"Isn't being ri-ripped apart physically a-and mentally by your own nightmares for six months on end punishment enough?" He pointed at Pitch's body.   
"You don't understand Jack, he's done other things, things that are truly _awful_." Tooth's thoughts seemed to be somewhere else, her brows coming together in a frown as though she were remsomething troubling.

"Ye-yeah, I can see your point, _really_ , but-but what would it cost us to get him better? What could possibly happen that's worse than-than what he's already done, if we give him a chance? So-so I say, i-if you're ready to give him a chance, join me." So saying, he drew a line in the dirt between Pitch's body, himself, and the other Guardians. "And if you're willing to throw someone sick, dying, a-and totally at our mercy ba-back into the clutches of his worst nightmares, and-and kick them when they're down, go-go on, stay over there."   
There was a pause, then North sheathed his swords and walked forwards, stepping over the line and coming to stand behind Jack with a hand on his shoulder as though it was nothing, looking at the others expectantly. Waiting.   
Sandy followed, lifting Pitch's head off the ground and pooling some Dreamsand in his palm to get a better look, before starting slightly, pausing, and sprinkling the sand onto Pitch's eyelids before floating to the other side of the line. Butterflies started to circle his head. (What was with that? Jack would have to ask Sandy later.)  
"So what if he's sick? He's killed more people than you can imagine, Jack, entire races of sentient beings! Why not let him die? His life doesn't matter among the millions upon millions he's killed!" _  
_

Jack was a little startled by that (not just by the surprising revelation that Tooth hated Pitch enough to let him die, but Pitch had KILLED people? And not just one or two, but entire civilizations?) but he continued anyway. "Tooth, you can't just add or subtract lives, or-or tally them up with little lines of chalk like-like days, or events - they have a different sort of value to other things. And we can't let personal feelings get in the way of our judgment. Just-just let Easter go for a moment, and think about it. REALLY think about it."   
"You're right Jack." And she took a deep breath and fluttered over to their side, her mini-fairies lingering a moment longer than she did, looking between her and each other before following.   
Bunny's ears and whiskers had been twitching while Jack was talking, and his scowl had softened and his head lowered a bit while he thought about what Jack had been saying about lives, but it hardened when he saw the others looking at him and he crossed his arms.   
"Hey, I feel no sympathy for this no-good piece of vermin, and what you said about lives doesn't change that, but I'll help ya-"   
"YES!"   
"-on a few conditions."   
"What?!"   
"Hear him out Jack." North said.   
"Number One; You let me put some restraints on him. Injured or not, this guy is dangerous."   
"That soonds far enuv, eh Jack?" Jack had to admit he couldn't find fault with that. Judging by earlier experiences, not to mention what Tooth had said earlier, Pitch _was_ dangerous.   
"Number Two: There should be a guard with him at all times."   
The others looked at Jack, waiting for his response. He was a bit surprised to find them staring at him - but this WAS his idea.   
"Fine."   
"Three: I, for one, am only saying this is okay until the bugger can walk on his own."   
Jack shrugged. "Sounds reasonable enough."   
"That's all I got for now Frostbite."   
North cut in once it was apparent that Bunny didn't have any more conditions.

"Just vun moment." He held up one index finger in a "Be quiet for a moment" gesture, and his gaze wandered upwards.   
"Vhat do you tink Manny?"   
There was a moment of silence, and a solitary moonbeam wandered down, and almost appearing to tremble, brushed its light against Pitch's face a few times before retreating, and Jack heard the Man in the Moon say something new for the first time in centuries, speaking in that strange lilting, singsong accent of his.

_"I have had my doubts, and am by no means a fan of the Boogeyman, and this might yet prove to be a trick of some kind, but I believe Pitch Black genuinely requires our help, and the last I checked, we are not the sort to turn our backs, as our youngest member of has just proved. I give my blessing."_

North clapped his hands together.

"Good! So vhere vill he be stayink?"   
"The Pole would be best. It has lots of space, it's our meeting place and I know I don't and Bunny definitely doesn't want Pitch hanging around our homes, right Bunny?"   
"That's right sheila."   
"Okay den! Everybody in da sleigh!" North bellowed happily, scooping up Pitch and tossing him over his shoulder while shooing everyone else towards the giant flying contraption and climbing into the drivers seat.   
"I dunno mate-"  
"Oh, stop vith your irrational fears Bunny!"   
"I'd hardly call 'em irrational!"   
"Oh, shoosh!" North said, grabbing Bunny by the scruff with one gigantic hand and dropping him in the back next to an unconscious Pitch.   
"Make sure Pitch dos not fall out vhile I am drivink, okey dokey?" And without waiting for an answer, North snapped the reins and they took off at breakneck speed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I did pretty well, right? Please comment down below to let me know what you think!


	2. Awakening.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pitch arrives at the North Pole and we learn something surprising.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you I'd be updating the story soon!

For a long time he lay face-down in the dirt, cold, alone, hungry, and so tired all he could do was brace himself against the earth and try and get up on his elbows, failing miserably before he could even get his chin off the ground. Then he lay still, not enough energy left to even open his eyes and look around him.  
When the cold hands grasped him, he assumed he had died of starvation and cold, and the hands were some being come to collect his soul. When he was laid against a wall and fastened to it with a strong, cold cuff, he was grateful he at least wasn't lying face-down in the dirt anymore, although he was a bit confused as to what was going on. Perhaps this was some sort of purgatory?  
He lay there for a while, and when the cold hands came next, they grabbed him under the arms and pulled him out of his comfortable shadowy corner between staircase and wall and dragged him across dirt and pebbles before laying him on his side in the dirt.  
Ah, so they had come to the question of deciding his fate and come up with Hell.  
Suddenly, some demon (or maybe there was more than one) he hadn't noticed - probably his chosen tormentor(s) - started making a louder noise than he would have thought possible, and he would have clutched his head in agony at the volume if he could. Instead, he shrunk in on himself as far as he could (no more than a centimetre) and wished it was all over.  
The assault seemed to go on forever and ever. And then something even worse had happened.  
He was picked up by a giant and thrown down on a hard surface where claws dug into him and a demon yelled unintelligibly into his ear. He was jolted almost continuously and air rushed by his face at high speeds, making it hard to breathe. The only relief was that the devil clutching him with those ridiculously sharp claws seemed to have a lot of very soft fur.  
The journey went on and on and on, but every journey must have some sort of end, and with a roar of sound and a few final heart-stopping jolts, it came to an end and the giant picked him up again.  
He felt himself being carried around for a while amidst noise even louder than the he had had to endure before. Then he found himself being deposited on a surprisingly comfortable surface and lulled into sleep by soft jingles and murmuring.  
Maybe this isn't Hell after all...

*** 

Jack had to admit it was funny to watch Bunny prospectively shrieking and clutching at Pitch when North decided to do a "loob-de-loopb!" and then pretending nothing had happened while everyone else enjoyed themselves. He and Tooth sat on the very edge and chatted about the strange changes to Pitch's appearance they had noticed as the sun came up. It was weird, all the grey seemed to have leaked out of his skin, leaving only some dark spots under his left ear that led in a trail down his neck, and when Jack lifted his eyelids they saw that his eyes were no longer a dull gold-silver but such a bright, pure shade of gold they were almost yellow. Tooth was obviously enjoying the thrill of flight without effort, the Mini-Fairies clinging to her feathers to avoid being blown off in the high winds. Well, all except Baby Tooth. She was peeking out of one of Jack's hoodie pocket. Sandy was throwing his arms in the air, a golden seatbelt that wasn't actually attached to the sleigh fastened around his waist. Come to think of it, Jack didn't know how North had never fallen out of the sleigh without one before. (To his knowledge, anyway)  
"Here vhe kgo!" North yelled over the wind, pulling a snow globe out of his jacket.  
"I say..." He paused dramatically and Bunny rolled his eyes.  
"Santoff Clausen!"  
A ballerina music box swirled into view inside the snow globe. Which North hurled at the air in front of the reindeer, where it broke open in a swirl of colours.  
"Oh crikey." muttered Bunny as everyone except North held on tighter than ever to their seats, and they vanished in a flash of red and white. 

***

They touched down (or crashed violently into the ground, it depended on who you asked.) outside the huge entrance doors to the reindeer stables, North grabbing Bunny's security blanket (that is, Pitch.) and strode forwards, yelling in some sort of strange mixture of Yeti, Russian and English. His not-so-little helpers started unhitching the reindeer and moving the sleigh inside while the elves swarmed underfoot, trying to welcome everyone back and getting in the way.  
"Shooo, leetle jingal bells, you is getting een oor way!"  
They nimbly avoided the elves' hug ambushes as they followed North through the ruckus and uproar of his workshop, losing elves along the way as they went back to "work", and watched as North gave directions to various Yetis.  
"Might frighten chilldren, tone down da teeth." To a worker with a wooden lion.  
"Needs a moor poowerful supring, otherwise is fine." To a tester with a clockwork mouse.  
"No, I has not gone crazy, ees unconscious, see?" To Phil, the head of security.  
"De order says dose are supposed to be yellow." To the unfortunate Yeti Jack had started to think of as Painting Yeti, who had been painting some plastic ducks purple, looked at the order, saw he had indeed misread it, jerked back with a "What Da?!" and banged his head against the table with a groan.  
They reached the elevator and squashed in, North saying "Excuse me", as he reached between and over Tooth and Sandy to reach the "UP" button.  
"Here ve kgo!" And the lift shot upwards by a floor, putting them at the end of a long hallway, and everyone barely had time to recover from the sudden jolt before North was yelling "Are hyou comink?" And they had to rush off down the corridor to catch up with him.  
North stopped at a door marked 15E.  
"So this would be the 5th floor?" Bunny said, as North shifted through an enormous ring of keys, spotting the E and hopeful that he could find out exactly where he was.  
"Nope, da floor numbers are eeranged randomely."  
Bunny drooped noticeably as the door gave a click and North pushed it open, walking into the room humming and depositing Pitch on a bed.  
They watched while all the elves that were off "duty" peeked over the top of the bed at Pitch before ducking down several times, their bells jingling.  
"So, Bunny, is you going to put dese "restraints" on Peetch now?"  
"Naw, mate. For one thing, it's gonna to be a bit before I come back with 'em because I don't carry 'em around with me, and it could take a few days to find 'em. Second, I'd feel stupid puttin' 'em on when 'e's obviously not gonna wake up or move for ages, so call us 'ere when 'e does." 

*** 

It was a full week of sleeping and North or one of the Yetis forcing food down Pitch's throat ("He ees obviously starvink Jack, look at how emaciated he is!"). Jack had offered to try once, give North and the Yetis a break. North had stayed to supervise Jack's attempt. It hadn't ended well.  
North was showing Jack "how to do eet properly" when Pitch woke up.  
You see, Jack, you put eet right at the back of his mouth, den you close eet and rub ees throat like dis."  
Pitch groaned and shifted, and North almost dropped him in surprise.  
"He's wakink up! Qweeck Jack, get ready!"  
North got up and placed Pitch's head gently back on the pillow, then snuck down to the foot of the bed with Jack.  
Pitch grunted as he pushed himself up on his elbows and looked around groggily, his eyes wandering around the room before coming to rest on Jack and North, where they widened almost comedically and he yelped and scrambled backwards. When he came up against the headboard he looked behind him, and, finding no escape, lay there panting and staring at them.  
"You does not have to be afraid, Peetch, we are not goink to hurt you." North said surprisingly gently.  
Pitch frowned and looked confused.  
"That's note my name." He said, his accent slightly smoother and more sing-song than usual.  
"WHAT?!"  
"That. Is. Not. My. Name." He repeated.  
"Well, what is it then?"  
He didn't really seem to want to tell because he hesitated and changed the subject.  
"I...I coult have sworn there were more of you."  
North jolted.  
"Of course! We were supposed to call them here when you woke up! I will go activate da Globe. Jack, keep guard!" 

*** 

He was very confused.  
First he was dead, then he wasn't and there was a giant and a boy with white hair standing in front of him. He jerked backwards until he hit something. Looking over his shoulder, he saw an ornate headboard.  
I'm in a bed...  
But he was still in danger (probably) so he whirled around and lay there, panting and trying not to let them know that the small action and his mini heart-attack had tired him out.  
The giant claimed they weren't going to hurt him then, (How can I even understand him?) but he wasn't so sure. Then he realised he had called him something strange.  
"That's not my name." He said.  
They both made the same exclamation of surprise, the giant's voice drowning out the boy's.  
He repeated himself.  
"Well what is it then?" questioned the pale boy.  
He opened his mouth to reply, but then he hesitated. Could he trust them?  
Trust them with what? It's just your name.  
I don't know who they are! But then again, I don't want to be rude, I've been lying in their bed for a long time now...  
He decided to change the subject.  
"I...I could have sworn there were more of you..."  
The giant started in surprise and said something about calling the others, calling the his fellow Jack and telling the boy to...guard him?  
The pale kid took up a defensive pose, pointing the crook end of his staff at him.

***

"I'm note dangerous." Said Pitch (or whatever he said his name was) once North had left the room.  
"We don't know that yet." Jack said levelly, keeping his staff up and pointed at Pitch. 

***

North waited patiently for everyone to arrive before beginning.  
"What is it North? Is he awake?" asked Tooth.  
"Yes Tooth, Pitch is awake, although there is some doubt in there."  
Sandy frowned and a question mark and then a few other signs that either meant what do you mean, "some doubt"? or what sleepyhead took my magnifying glass? appeared above his head.  
"Yeah, what Sandy said!"  
"Calm down Bunny! There is no need to get upset! Pitch just doesn't seem to remember his own name."  
"Um, how is that no need to get upset?" questioned Tooth.  
Sandy made a symbol that either meant I agree or Sister of Flight.  
North sighed and turned, motioning for them to follow him with one hand.  
"Just come with me." 

***

He waited, looking at everything in the room until he ran out of things to look at, than got bored and sat up on the edge of the bed.  
The pale boy took a step forward and said: "Don't you try anything Pitch!"  
"Why do you keep calling me Pitch?"  
The boy whose name was apparently Jack paused, lowering his staff slightly, then raised it again.  
"This could be a trick."  
Apparently they're even more suspicious of me than I am of them. He thought.  
"Listen," he said. "I don't know why you are all so scared of me-"  
"We aren't scared of you!"  
"-but I don't know who you are and I am frankly a little bit terrified. Am I supposed to have, I don't know, done something?"  
Jack hesitated, and then he said:  
"Well we can't really blame you, but you're supposed to be dangerous."  
"Dangerous? I spent the first few days of my life unable to move!"  
Jack frowned.  
"What do you mean, "the first few days of my life"?"  
"Well, I woke up lying in the dirt, hungry, cold and alone, then there was a monster shrieking in my ear and digging their claws into me-" (Jack snorted and he ignored him) "-then it was very loud and I was frightened, then it was soft and warm and I fell asleep, then someone fed me and it went on like that for a bit, then I couldn't breathe and I thought I was going to die-" for some reason Jack looked a bit embarrassed)  
"What?"  
"Huh? Oh, nothing, continue." Jack grinned sheepishly and put his hands behind his back, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.  
"Alright then. Then I wasn't going to die and I was being fed again, and then I woke up, you know what happened next and that's my entire life so far."  
"So you were only about a week ago, huh?"  
"As far as I know, yes."  
"And you can already talk?"  
"Well, obviously."  
Just then, they were interrupted by the rest of his saviours/kidnappers and he shrank backwards.  
Jack stepped towards them, arms extended.  
"Guys, there's something important I need to tell you."  
"Really? Right now, mate?"  
"Yes right now, it'll only take a few seconds!"  
"Okay, okay Jack, ve are goink."  
Then they crowded outside the door, and soft murmuring came from behind it. 

***. 

"I don't think that it's Pitch in there."  
Sandy's jaw dropped and he said something along the lines of what?! with about five question and exclamation marks.  
"Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but he says that he doesn't know who we are, he was born like a week ago and have any of you even seen him?"  
"Born?" said Tooth.  
"Yeah, he apparently doesn't remember anything before about a week ago and even if he is Pitch I don't think we should tell him otherwise."  
"Hwhy not Jack?" asked North.  
"Well, he's a lot less dangerous if this way for a start, and besides, this could mean we've wiped the slate clean, given him a fresh new start."  
North was nodding thoughtfully, Sandy offered up a picture that could mean we'll teach him how to behave properly or Professor Sandy likes the chalkboard.  
"That's a good idea, actually. I think we should do it."  
"Well I think it's a scam, and I'm not lettin' up on any of my conditions 'cept for the last one!"  
Jack thought back.  
"Er, "only 'till 'e can walk on 'is own"?"  
"Exactly. And stop copyin' my accent, you're gettin' it all wrong."  
"So ve're all agreed dat he cannot know?"  
Various-levels-of-enthusiastic nods.  
"Alright den." North cracked his knuckles and opened the door.  
Bunny took his bandolier off and started getting what looked like dark grey bracelets out of its pockets.  
"So what's your name?" said Tooth, noticing the nervous look on Once-Known-As-Pitch's face at what Bunny was doing.  
"I think it's Kozmotis." He said nervously, staring at one of his hands to avoid making eye contact and undoing and redoing the top button of his tattered jacket.  
Jack snorted and clapped a hand over his mouth, looking away sheepishly when Tooth glared at him.  
"My name is Toothiana, but I prefer Tooth, the big guy is Nicholas St. North or just North, Mr Mischief-Maker here-" she pointed over her shoulder at Jack.  
"-Is Jack Frost, Jack, Snowflake or Frostbite by the giant rabbit, Short-And-Glowing is called Sanderson Mansnoozie-"  
Jack looked at the shortest member of their group before bursting out laughing. It was a few seconds before Sanderson realized he wasn't going to shut up any time soon and swept his legs out from underneath him with a pole made of glowing particles.  
Kozmotis stared.  
"Alright, alright, I'm shutting up!" chuckled Jack from the floor.  
"Right, thank you for that. As I was saying, his name is Sanderson Mansnoozie but we call him Sandy, don't mess with him, you'd be surprised. The angry looking one in the corner is E. Aster Bunnymund-"  
"I'm going to memorize that for later use."  
"Don't you dare, Snowflake."  
"-Or Bunny, and, if you're Jack, "The Kangaroo." but don't call him that, because Jack can fly and you probably can't."  
Kozmotis looked at them nervously, smiling as well as he could, and held up a hand, the fingers curled up a little.  
"H-hi."  
""Kozmotis" sounds a bit long, can we call you Koz for short?"  
"I-I can't see anything wrong with it."  
"Right. Now the intraduction's outta the way, let's get on with it.  
The rabbit called Bunny walked towards him, scowling.  
Koz felt the sudden need to scramble backwards.  
Bunny stopped and narrowed his eyes.  
"Stay still."  
"No thank you." Koz said, continuing to crawl backwards.  
Bunny turned and talked to the others as though he wasn't there. 

***

"He's not cooperating." he hissed.  
Sandy said something with his sand that could have meant If North holds him I can send him to sleep or North, you hold him down and I'll hit him in the face with a ball so hard it breaks and he falls unconscious.  
Koz paled even more.  
"I'm pretty sure only the first half of that plan is necessary, Sandy." Tooth pointed out.  
Sandy looked disappointed while North advanced on Koz, arms slightly outstretched and knees bent.  
Koz didn't like where this was going, but he'd backed himself into a corner and North's outstretched arms blocked all the escape routes, so he was hauled out by the collar of his jacket and held still while Bunny fixed metal rings around his ankles and wrists.  
"Are you sure they work Bunny?"  
"Yes Jack, they work. I tested 'em out when I found 'em."  
"Good. Now ve lay out da ground rules!"  
"Ground rules?"  
"Yes Koz, ground rules. First, stay eenside when it's my shift and keep out of the Yeti's way, second, don't ever leesan to Jack unless he's on guard duty, third, under no circumstances feed the elves."  
"All…all right?"  
"Good! Jack, you have anything important to do today?"  
"Yeah, Canada needs my attention."  
"Bunny?"  
"Can't lie mate, don't have to pick up the pace for a coupla months."  
"You get first shift then."  
Bunny didn't argue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you can guess who the unintelligibly shrieking demon was…
> 
> Next: Bunny's shift. 
> 
> Comment down below to let me know what you think!
> 
> I would like to thank NemoAliius and two guests (you know who you are.) for being the first to leave kudos on my work and say that as time goes on and (hopefully!) more people leave kudos or comment, it might take a while to respond, so please be patient if that happens!


	3. At The Warren.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koz explores the Warren, Bunny does some painting and Jack ends up asking Bunny a very important question. (Not really.)

"A-are you s-sure about this? W-what if it caves in?"   
Koz and Bunny stood outside the front doors of Santoff Clausen, Bunny trying to push Koz into one of his tunnels and Koz digging the heels of his tall boots into the snow.   
"It. WON'T." Bunny grunted, giving another heave into Koz's back.   
"But what if it does?"   
"It WON'T!" Bunny yelled, quickly shifting his paws from the middle of Koz's lower back to between his shoulder blades, sending him plunging headfirst into the tunnel.   
Bunny dusted his paws off in satisfaction and dove in after him. 

***

The walls attacked from every direction, rocks and tree roots digging into his skin and tearing at his clothes. Any noises he tried to make for the next few minutes were immediately interrupted by a grunt or a yelp of discomfort as something jabbed him.   
His journey came to an abrupt halt as a hole in the wall ahead opened up and he fell on his face in the grass. Bunny landed behind him and cheerfully hopped onto his back and over his head, landing in front of him and trotting off, looking back over his shoulder at Koz with a smirk and a call of "Hurry up ya gumby! I've got work to do and I can't wait around for you all day!"  
"I don't even know what a gumby IS." muttered Koz, getting up and following Bunny downhill. 

***  
When they reached the bottom of the slope, Bunny sat down under a tree and pulled a paintbrush, some paper and a set of colors out of his bandolier and propped the paper up against his knees.   
"Go'n take a looker at the egglets. I think you'll find 'em interestin'. But be careful, they're VERY fragile."   
A bit confused as to how he could go so quickly from antagonistically smug to relaxed and focused so quickly, Koz wandered off to look for these "egglet" things Bunny had told him about. He couldn't find any little eggs, but he found some huge stone ones and almost went past them when he saw one move.  
"Wow." He turned on his heel when he spotted it and went back to get a better look.   
They were huge, easily a hundred times bigger than any normal egg, they had a deep groove in their sides and just above it, a smile carved into their stone faces - which scraped around to reveal a frown when he got a step too close.   
Koz changed direction abruptly.   
  
***

The next thing he came across was a river that, to his interest, flowed pink. And there were things floating in it.   
Koz decided to get a better look.   
First, he tried simply leaning out over it, but the objects were too far away to see properly, so next he tried climbing on a rock that went out into the water further than the others, but all he could see were white blobs.   
Then he noticed the tree.   
It didn't seem rotten or unsteady, and there was a branch extending out over the river that looked like it could hold his weight.   
Koz wasn't sure if he was scared of heights, but he definitely didn't like the idea of them.  
He steeled his nerves. 

*** 

Bunny was surprised to find it was this EASY. He would have expected to be scraping P-er, Kozmotis off something by now, maybe he'd underestimated hi-  
It was then that Bunny heard the yell.   
Or maybe not, he thought.   
Idiot. 

*** 

Koz was surprised to find that once he had forced himself to climb up out of his comfort zone, it was even easier than he'd thought to reach the top and crawl out onto the branch.   
He turned a bit on the branch and stared searchingly at the water, before a white blob caught his eye.   
He leaned forward even more as he stared at it, before working out what it was.   
"I-it's an egg! With…f-feet?"   
That was when his foot slipped.   
Koz yelled in surprise and caught himself on the branch, pulling himself up until the his head, arms and most of his chest were above the branch. When he tried to swing his leg back over the branch, however, he realised that he simply didn't have the energy, and unless Bunny decided to check on him, he could be hanging here for hours.   
That is, if he didn't fall off first.   
He could already feel himself slipping.   
Thankfully, Bunny showed up before that could happen.   
"What on this great green earth possessed ya to climb all the way out there ya idiot?"  
"I-I wanted to see what the white blobs in the river w-were, a-and I did -th-they're EGGS Bunny! With feet!- but, er, I slipped a-and now I c-can't get my legs b-back over the b-branch again..."   
He smiled sheepishly.   
Bunny sighed.   
"Ya really can't get down on yer own?"   
"N-no. Sorry."   
Bunny dragged both paws down his face before grabbing the first branch and starting to climb the tree, muttering various insults concerning Koz's sanity and intelligence under his breath all the way.   
When he reached Koz, he unhooked a rope from his bandolier and hung from the back of his knees where he tied the rope around his waist and pulled himself up again, then he grabbed the back of Koz's jacket and hauled him up by it and the rope.   
Then he dumped him on the branch and said "come on, I an't carryin' ya down after what ya just pulled."   
  
*** 

Koz was grateful, he really was, and he swore he would never do anything that stupid ever again.   
They were sitting by the riverbank, Bunny leaning against a rock and Koz lying on his stomach and peering into the river. Now that he knew what he was looking at, it was much easier to make out the eggs.   
Bunny stiffened suddenly and his ears twitched in different directions.   
"What is it, Bunny?"   
"Get up on yer knees, sloowly, then put yer hands behind ya back so that whatever's over there can see 'em, hold ya breath and whatever you do, Don't. Look. Back." Bunny whispered, his eyes fixed on something directly behind him.   
Oh, gosh, it was probably something dangerous, Bunny sounded like he knew what was talking about, if he didn't listen to him, it might attack. It was a bit odd for him to tell him to hold his breath.  
Without looking back, Koz did everything Bunny told him to, but as soon as he stopped breathing out, something grabbed his wrists and plunged his head under the surface of the river, and he almost let out his breath in surprise.   
Thankfully, the dunking only lasted a moment or so, then he was released and he fell over backwards, gasping for breath as Bunny rolled around laughing.   
When he had recovered enough to speak, the first thing that came to mind was "W-what the hell was tha for?!" as he wiped dye off of his face.   
"For breaking yer promise to never do anything that stupid ever again."   
"Shut up. You sounded really convincing." 

***   
  
Koz lay back in the grass for a while, still cleaning bright pink out of his normally dark hair (there were multiple mirrors on the route from his supposed new bedroom and where he and Bunny had come out of Santoff Clausen.) before asking Bunny something that had been gnawing at the back of his mind.   
"Bunny, is everyone born like me?"   
Bunny paused in his painting.   
"No, in fact, I only know've one in the whole world with that in common with ya."   
"Really?"   
"Yep."   
"Oh. Who is it?"   
"Jack."  
"Jack?"   
"Yeah, ya on repeat or somethin'?"   
"N-no, I'm just a bit surprised, that's all. D-did he ever tell you about it?"   
"'E did."   
"W-what d-did he say?"   
"'E said that the first thing he could remember, it was really cold and dark, and 'e was afraid."  
That sounded familiar.   
"Then the Man in the Moon-"  
That DIDN'T sound familiar.   
"The what?!"   
Bunny stared at him.   
"The Man in the Moon, our boss, the one who chooses the new Guardians an' got Jack out from under the ice of the lake 'e was born in? Ya really didn' know?   
"Well, now I have some idea."   
Bunny groaned. Great, turned out he would have to teach him the basics before he could answer this dunderhead's questions.   
"Well, all ya need t' know, is that the Man in the Moon, or Man in Moon, or Manny, decides who the next Guardian will be, and we generally look to him for advice.”  
"So h-he runs the whole thing?"  
"Yep, that's about th' size've it."  
"A…and he created Jack?"   
"Well...from what I've 'eard, he didn' CREATE Jack, 'e just sorta resurrected 'im."   
"H-he WHAT?"  
"Resurrected, raised the dead, brought 'im back to life-"  
"Yeah, I got that, but…Jack's dead?"  
"Mm-hm."  
"Oh."   
It suddenly occurred to Koz that Jack was abnormally pale and Bunny had said something about the Man in the Moon pulling Jack from beneath the surface of the ice…  
"Oh. Okay. Well, Bunny, I have another question…"  
"It's gonna have to be the last one cos' we're headin' back soon."  
"W-was I resurrected?"  
There was a pause, and Bunny stared at his painting and sighed, starting to pack up slowly before responding.   
"I dunno. Ya might've bin, but Manny probly would've said somethin' by now since you've come t' live with us n' all."   
"Oh."   
Bunny stood up and nudged him.   
"Come on, time t' go."

*** 

Bunny stopped painting for a moment when Kozmotis asked that last question. What should he tell him? "Oh, noo, the Man in the Moon would never bring back the likes of you, no, you're a demon who lost a battle to us six months ago and got amnesia."?   
No, they'd agreed not to tell him that. And even if Kozmotis, formerly Pitch, formerly someone else (he didn't like to think of that time, it brought up painful memories.) did deserve answers, he wasn't even sure he had them. He didn't even know if he had died or not. Of course, he wouldn't be surprised if he had, being torn apart by your worst nightmares couldn't be healthy, and there had been a long time period between Pitch's defeat and Jack finding Kozmotis, but the Man in the Moon must have known Kozmotis was going to stay with them, and if he had, wouldn't he have said something? He didn't think he should tell Koz that the only way to find out was through his memories, because Tooth wasn't around long enough to have collected his, and it would just lead to disappointment.   
Koz looked a little forlorn at his answer and hunched over a bit, staring even harder at the river and suddenly not looking more than a few years older than al his remembered life experience.   
"Come on." Bunny said, getting up and nudging his shoulder gently. "Time to go."   
"I'm note going trough the tunnels again."   
"Don't you worry, we'll go at a walking pace this time."  
"You cun du that?"  
"Yes, yes you can." 

***

"So, how deed eet kgo?" Jack and North were playing cards in his study.   
"Well, he upset the sentinels, made a weird indent in my lawn, stained himself purple-"  
"That vwas hyou!" Kozmotis pointed accusingly at him.  
"-Disturbed my painting session, and about two hours in got himself dangling from a tree above a flowing river because "h-he w-wanted a c-closer look a-at dte egg-things." Bunny said that last bit with claw quotes, an exaggerated fake accent and a stutter.  
North raised an eyebrow.   
"Jack, I tink ve have competitor for your general deestruction record."   
"What? Noo, remember the time I dumped an entire bag of concentrated sugar in the elves' bunker and iced the floor of your workshop?"  
North laughed uproariously before snapping back to serious and glaring at Jack.  
"Veevdly."   
  
***

After that Koz was told to leave the room to wash up and go to bed.   
"Stupid kangaroo." Koz muttered, scrubbing his still-purple hair with something the yetis usually reserved for getting paint out of their fur and then rinsing it in an ornate sink.   
It took two gos before he could convince himself it looked normal again.   
Then he went up the stairs. (He remembered he wasn't supposed to be in the workshop.)   
The door swung open and Koz sat down on the bed, took his boots and socks off, stood up, removed his jacket and hung it on the headboard, briefly stretched and massaged his aching body (what do you know, traveling head over heels at high speed in a tunnel full of pointy objects hurts) and collapsed into bed. 

***

North listened at the door after shoving Koz out the door, slamming it in his face and locking it. He turned to Bunny.   
"Did hyou finde out anyting eenteresting Bunny?"  
"When th' bugger's frighten'd 'e sounds like a German, and when 'e's pi-"  
"Bunny!"  
"-sorry, an' when 'e's angry 'e sounds like a Scottie."   
"Er, Bunny I hate to be the popper of your bubble, but how is that useful?"  
"It gets better. Turns out, 'e wants t' find out more 'bout 'imself, so 'e asked me a few questions 'bout it."  
"Like vot?"  
"Questions like: "Bunny, is everybody born like me?""  
Jack started and sat forward in North's wheelie chair.   
"What did you tell him?"  
"I told 'im yer th' only one I know of who woke up like him, tha' is, completely formed and aware of everythin' around ya."   
"Deed hye ask any moor questions?"   
"Just a few. When I told 'im bout you wakin up an' all I had to tell 'im that Manny brought ya back an' that lead t' me tellin' 'im that 'e probly didn'."   
"Did you have to use the vett'n'mar jor?"   
"No, t' tell ya th' truth, 'e's a bit of a scaredy cat."   
"Ah, he haz de timidity eesues!"  
"Na, North mate, 'e's pretty much just an easy scare. I mean, all I had t' do t' get im t' put 'is hands behind 'is back and hold 'is breath so I could dunk 'im in the river was stare right behind 'im a-and tell 'im not t' look back!" Bunny was wheezing a little as he tried not to chuckle and Jack was grinning.   
"So you DID dye his hair!"   
Bunny chuckled and made as if to wave Jack off.   
"It was just a little revenge."  
Jack stared at him.   
"I am more grateful than ever that I can fly now. Hey, if I couldn't, what colour would you dye MY hair?"  
"Neon orange."   
"Bunny? Jack? Gettink a leetle off topic here."   
"Oh, right. Well, that's 'bout it. Who's takin' the shift tamorrow?"   
"Sandy's island shoultd keep heem busy, tden the day after that eet's my turn, and tden Tooth and Jack."   
"What? Why do I go last?"   
"Because hyou were annoyink the yetis when you should have been helpink us work out de details, so you meessed out on your say."   
"But you were talking about statistics when I got bored!"   
"Statisteecs are eemportant!"   
Bunny crossed his arms.   
"Should I leave ya to it, then?"   
"Yes, after Koz was in Warren you must be positively eetchink to kgo home andt clean eet up!"   
"Right then, see ya lata."  
And he summoned a hole (cos he knew that it would irritate North to have to remove another flower from his floor) and left Jack and North squabbling about why statistics are important, (or evil, as the case may be) their game of cards forgotten on the table. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry if they seemed a bit ooc at one point, I'm trying!   
>  Also, I have a feeling someone's going to draw Koz stuck in a tree sooner or later…  
>  On a more serious note, you might think the story is progressing really quickly and that you can guess what's going to happen, but I'm hoping I can shred that expectation.   
>  Happy New Year people! (I probably should have said that earlier.) and thank you again to NemoAliius for commenting!


	4. An Island Of Sand.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'M NOT DEAD!  
> This is a filler, but there is some pretty okay stuff in it.  
> Basically just Koz watching Sandy work and asking some questions. Also Jack wakes him up before six-thirty, which in my (and Koz's) opinion, is too early to be alive...if I can manage to get to sleep at all.  
> Also, IMPORTANT!  
> I don't like the title of this work and in a week or so I'm going to change the title to "Loose Ends." So don't be alarmed if you search for this and it doesn't come up. I just thought I'd give everyone a heads up so they don't freak out. :).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is (basically) the point in the story where the books and some elements of the comics I thought might be interesting (plus a few snippets of cannon I added so it all makes sense.) start to connect with the plot. I haven't read the books, or online comics (can't seem to find them in a library anywhere, which is disappointing, because if they're children's books and the story is as good as I've heard, they're instant classics - most children's books talk down to kids, even if it's not intentional - and my browser won't support the website the comics are on, and I can't seem to update it.) so I'm a bit fuzzy on areas of the story, just tell me if I mess up and I'll try and fix it.  
> Also, I can't remember if I've thanked ironiccowboykink for commenting yet...  
> If I haven't, thanks so much!  
> I enjoy hearing from everybody! :)

"Koz. Koz. Koz. Koz. Koz…"  
Someone was repeating his name over and over again. Koz groaned and blinked open his eyes.   
Large blue ones stared back.   
Koz yelped and jerked away, hitting his head on a bedpost.   
"So, Koz, I have a question for you." Jack said, ignoring Koz's grunt of pain and hanging off his staff as he leaned towards, grinning manically, one of the multiple little versions of Tooth standing on his shoulder and half-peeking out from behind his neck, humming at Koz suspiciously.   
"Do I get to go back to sleep if I pretend to listen to whatever no doubt half-baked, redundant drivel comes out of your mouth in the next few minutes, Frost?" he griped, still rubbing the back of his head.   
Jack paused, surprised, but then he smirked.   
"Gee, remind me not to wake you up before six thirty in the morning."  
"Gladly." grumbled Koz, flopping back into the pillow.   
"Why do you always dream of butterflies?"  
Koz opened one eye.   
"I dream about butterflies?"   
"Yeah, but why?"   
"I didn't even know I did dream. When I woke up this morning I couldn't remember what happened during the night."   
Jack frowned thoughtfully. The little fairy was beginning to get bored with staring at him and began investigating Jack's pockets instead. Koz could see her small form moving around through the fabric and making little tweets of interest.   
"If Sandy wasn't going to make sure you get a good dream every night, that would probably be a good thing, considering everything you've been through..."   
Koz almost didn't hear that last part.   
""Everything you've been through"? What's that supposed to mean?"   
Jack's eyes darted around the room while he rubbed the back of his neck before he looked back at Koz.  
"Well, er, it's like you said, you spent the first part of your life alone and cold, lying in the dirt."   
"Like you?"   
"Yes."   
There was a pause.   
"Jack?" Evidently Koz had forgotten to be angry for being woken up at this unholy hour.   
"Yeah?"   
"If you are dead, wouldn't that mean you were once alive?"   
"You got that right, ten points for Kozmotis!" Jack exclaimed.   
Koz ignored the tone.   
"Do you remember it? W-what was it like?"   
Jack was quiet for a moment, looking off into the distance at something Koz couldn't see.

"I didn't remember at first, but once I did, everything came back at once. I had a home, heck, I had a FAMILY, sure, I'm sad knowing they're not around anymore, and I know I'll never get that time with them back, but I can't just curl up in a corner and die when something bad happens; sure, you're scared something bad will happen again, but you've got to keep going, because something good might happen too. I miss them, but they learnt how to live without me, and just knowing they existed is enough to make me happy, and now I've got a second family on top, so it's hard to be lonely." For once, Jack seemed serious, sincere.   
"What - what happened?"

"Me and my sister were going to go ice skating on the little lake outside our house. "Be careful" I remember my mom saying, "We will" I said. It was the last thing we ever said to each other. Less than two hours later, we'd wandered into the middle of the lake, and the ice started to crack beneath our feet. We were scared out of our wits but I told her we were going to have fun instead, and play a game. "Hopscotch, like we play everyday". And I took three steps. "One…two" I remember the ice cracked under my foot and I pretended to almost lose my balance to cover it. One more step and I was clear. I picked up a stick I saw lying on the surface, and on her third step I used it to pull her clear. But my momentum was too much and I slid out in her place. We looked at each other and laughed, laughed because we were okay and it was fun, and neither of us realized what had happened until the ice gave way under me, and I heard her scream my name and saw her lunge towards me as I went under."

"Wow…" Koz couldn't say anything more for a few moments. 

"Do you think I had a family?"   
"You seem like the kind of guy who would."   
"D-do you think I will ever remember them?"   
Jack didn't say anything for a while.   
"No, Koz. I'm sorry." 

*** 

Koz stepped into the little sand plane awkwardly. The difference in height between him and Sandy was even more obvious when they shared the same space. Sandy turned around in his seat and either said "you'll have to go to sleep for most of the journey, it's a pretty long one." or: "Koz go beddy-byes over the Pacific."   
He blinked several times but nodded. 

***  
  
There wasn't much to say of the journey, it was pretty standard. 

*** 

"Wow…just…wow. Th-this is…amazing." The watchtowers of Sandy's home stretched into the sky, mermaids swam through the crystal clear lagoon that harbored fish and coral of all sizes and colors, and dreams explored freely and palm trees swayed as far as Koz could see.   
Sandy waved off Koz's admiration for his home, a series of symbols appearing over his head that could mean "Meh, it's a work in progress." or: "Penman Sandy is dissatisfied with his latest novel."   
"S-so why are we staying here for the day, i-instead of going around the world?"   
Sandy either said "it will be simpler to stay here, I don't think you'd like the cloud." or: "I fly around so fast you'd get dizzy and fall off."   
"Oh. O-kay then."   
Sandy led him down a path from the beach and around the lagoon to a gazebo with seats in the middle of it in a circle facing outwards, and sat down. Koz did the same.   
Sandy started weaving a dream.   
"Do you make every single dream in the world from scratch?"   
Sandy shook his head, then he said with his symbols and pictures: "I start most of them, then I let their imagination take it where they want. If it gets out of hand I step in. Some dreams I don't even have to start, I just spread the sand and they do it on their own. It happens a lot, actually, especially when they think something is going to happen soon, like if it's Christmas or some other holiday the next day. Some dreams, however, I make all the way through, usually for something important."   
"Wow."   
Couldn't he say anything else today?   
Koz leaned forward and watched as Sandy effortlessly made image after image out of glowing sand before sending it off over the ocean in all directions in a stream of particles.   
"You work very quickly, it would probably take someone else ages to make just one if they could."   
Sandy shrugged and either said: "I have been doing this for a very long time now." or: "Here's my daily routine of the last four billion years."   
Koz nodded thoughtfully, looking off into the distance. "Mm, dreamers have been around f-for an awfully long time." 

*** 

Sandy glanced at Kozmotis out of the corner of his eye every now and again. He wanted to tell him, really he did, but they had all sworn not to, and there was some things his signs and symbols just couldn't communicate.   
He remembered him as he was. The uniform he wore, now faded and torn, had once been new. There had once been medals pinned to that coat, he had had his helmet under one arm, there had always been a sword in a sheath at his side, and he had stood to attention at all times.   
Except for when he was with them…   
He remembered her as well, how much she looked like her mother. He remembered the way she had cried silently as she came aboard and the way she had never screamed, even when plunging towards Earth in a different direction to him, never to be seen again.   
He shook himself mentally. He was going to ruin a dream if he kept thinking about the past. It couldn't be changed, and moping about it was a sure fire way to get distracted.   
After a while, it occurred to Sandy that Kozmotis was probably hungry by now, so he summoned some dates and offered them to him. Koz accepted. 

*** 

Sometimes, Koz wondered.   
He chewed on a date as he wondered why everyone had seemed cautious of him at first, he wondered why Bunny was always so uptight, he wondered how Toothiana's wings worked and if it would be considered rude if he asked for a closer look, he would _dearly_ love to know if Jack's endless chatter had an "off" button.   
Yes, Dreamland was a good place for thinking about things, the peaceful quiet didn't interrupt his thought process, and the imagery around him was entertaining without being distracting.   
And Sandy was nice to sit with. He let off a sort of glow, and he seemed happy to answer any questions he had about dream-making and the spirit world.   
Before they had to leave for the day, Koz learnt that nightmares could take physical horse forms, made of corrupted dreamsand when not terrorising people's sleep, that the dreamsand used to be under Sandy's command, and that he, or a child who believed in them without fearing them could turn them back into pure dreamsand by touching it. He learned that a great deal, if not most of their power was based on whether children believed in them. If someone didn't believe in them, they could walk right through them (which was a very unpleasant experience, Sandy emphasised), and if enough children stopped believing, their powers would fade. He learnt that the five of them, (Sandy, North, Tooth, Bunny and Jack) had the responsibility of protecting the childhood and happiness of the world's children as much as they possibly could, using the gifts that the Man in the Moon had given them of immortality and powers like Toothiana's ability to activate the memories in teeth so that they would give flashes of remembrance when it mattered most, his ability to control dreams and Jack's elemental powers. He also said that some of their talents did not come from the Man in the Moon, but themselves. Bunny's tunnels and something else that Koz couldn't make out, (although it involved an alarm clock for some reason, so he supposed it was something to do with time.) Tooth's wings and feathers and almost everything of North's were all their own.   
Somehow, while he was watching the sun rise and mulling over everything Sandy had said, he missed the first part about Tooth.   
This didn't matter though. He would find out soon enough. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone get the alarm clock reference? (A/N: it's from the books. If you didn't get it don't worry, I only found out recently, it's not really relevant to the story and I'll just tell you anyway: Bunny is basically a Time Lord.) If you're wondering why I didn't do the double meanings with the really long bit Sandy said, I couldn't think up enough symbols to base the words off…..


	5. The North Pole And All Its Wonders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> North and Koz explore and paint frogs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically just fluff until Jack is stupid enough to take Koz outside where anyone and everyone with a grudge against Pitch Black can see him, especially a certain woman... (I said canonical pairings if you're worried.)  
> Please comment, your feedback is helpful and I LOVE hearing from you.

It turned out that North was also a morning person. "Lucky me." Koz thought sarcastically as he trudged down the staircase after him, (Jack, the little fairy he called BabyTooth and the elves had broken the lift in his absence the day before - honestly, Koz wondered why North even let Jack inside the North Pole.) blinking the sleep out of his eyes and fumbling with his sleep-stiffened fingers with the buttons on his coat as they went. "Today I gife you tour!" "Really?" Although he was surprised the Guardians hadn't already, he had thought they had been busy, and he voiced his concerns about North falling behind. "Bah! Is ages until we have to get movink and the yetis need more supervision." Soon, Koz thought of a question he had never thought to ask. "N-North?" "Da?" "H-how come you d-don't look like the "Santa Clauses" o-on Christmas cards a-and decorations and things?" North stopped, and Koz almost ran into him. North leaned out over the railing, watching the general chaos of his workshop with a small smile on his face. "There is no such thing as Nicholas St. North, only da man in de red coat that comes down the cheemney once a year and leaves toys. That is why you do not often see one like myself on Christmas cards, because "Santa Claus" is who they believe in. He could be a purple reindeer covered in golden bells and whistles and as long as the presents are there in the mornink, he came." North turned his head to look at Koz. "And that iz all that matters." Then North continued to walk down the stairs, and through the workshop towards his study, humming cheerfully, Koz struggling to keep up. "Come! I show you how system works!" North snatched up two unpainted wooden frogs and strolled confidently through the stretch of havoc, barely escaping having his head knocked off by a pair of workers hefting the parts to a larger contraption over to the other side of the room. Koz ducked and jerked to avoid being killed before he reached his destination and walked into North's back. He "oof"ed and walked around to the tall man's front to see what he was looking at. The elves were playing with paint, tinsel and electronics. Dunking each other in the paint, spreading it all over the table they were sitting on, giving themselves war paint markings from head to toe, electrocuting each other and plugging themselves in like Christmas trees, tearing the tinsel into bits of shiny confetti and long streams of wire, sticking it in aforementioned paint and generally making a huge, disgusting, complicated mess that the poor yetis would have to clean up later. He stared for a moment, before looking up at North's face to get a good idea how long the elves had to live. North was smiling proudly as if they had just completed an entire day's work in a few minutes and started patting them on their smocks (hats?) and booming things along the lines of "Good Vork!", "I love what you did with it", and "Keep it up!" before turning and striding away. Koz stood dumbfounded for a minute, glancing between the horrid mess and the elves that made it and North's retreating back before remembering he was supposed to stay with North and scrambling to catch up. "N-North?" He questioned cautiously once they were both inside the door. "Da?" North pushed it closed behind them. "W-What was all th-that about?" "Oh, do you mean de elves?" North sat down at his workbench facing Koz, his fingers steepled and his chin resting on their tips, his large sky-blue eyes watching him intently. "Uh, yes actually, I thought they made the toys?" "Oh! Da, them. They make the toys, yes? Well…actually…we let them believe that." North let that sink in a little. "Oh…ooh, I get it." "Good! You like frog? Is very old design." North handed him the one of the unpainted toys and got a tray full of brushes of all sizes, paint of all colors and clean water. There was also a pallet for mixing colors in and a rag and bottle of paint remover. Everything was arranged carefully. Koz raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Someone's tidy." North chuckled and handed him a brush. "Is there a color scheme?" "Just make sure has lines and details where is supposed to be, otherwise, knock yourself out." Koz painted the one he had red and yellow. And everything was fine until the frog was dry and he tried it out, before getting the sudden urge to find out how it worked. He took it apart with a screwdriver on one of the nearby work surfaces (carefully, he didn't want to break any pieces) and had discovered the little springs and how they worked. But he quickly forgot how to put it back together again. It was almost half an hour later of frustrated fiddling before North glanced up and let his mouth fall open in surprise. "You have broken it already?!" Koz jumped, startled, and glanced up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Er, n-not exactly... I-I wanted to see how it worked s-so I took it apart...but I-I forgot how to put it b-back together again." "You could have asked me." He grinned sheepishly. "I tend to overthink things when I'm focused." North laughed uproariously ("You cannot see woods for trees, da?") before leaning forwards and explaining (still chuckling every now and then) how each piece fit into the next one and how to put everything back without damaging it.

***

"North, did you show Jack around here when he arrived?" North hesitated. He really should have expected this question, Koz had been fascinated by the spirit ever since Bunny had told him they were similar. And he obviously wanted to know more about himself. What to say, what to say… "No, we were busy doing other things." Koz frowned in curiosity. "What kind of "things"?" North almost held his breath. "Holiday things." "Oh. A-alright?" *** Koz felt like there was something the Guardians weren't telling him. They had never been anything but nice to him (alright, Bunny seemed to have trust issues and Jack would never leave him alone, but they were nice enough) but so far three of them had seemed like they weren't saying something. Something important. Koz wondered why they weren't telling him whatever it was as he listened to North explain how the pieces of wood fit together and moved. They must have a good reason for not telling him though, after all, he wasn't exactly dangerous. Click. The last piece of the puzzle fell into place and Koz pulled the string that set it hopping on the ground. It proved a bit hard to catch but once it slowed down it was easy enough. "Keep it." "I-I'm sorry, what?" "Keep it. You finished it, and we have plenty more." "O-oh. Um. Alright." He still wasn't sure how everything fit together, and not just for the frog either, he felt like those little slip-ups were all connected, some tiny part of a much larger picture, but he felt like he shouldn't ask about it if they were all avoiding the subject. So he let it lie, and watched, holding an inexpertly painted frog and watching the other, more carefully painted frog be varnished diligently and answered North's questions instead (Yes, he had done more than one coat, yes, both were dry.) before copying him in coating the frog in the foul-smelling liquid, careful to do it exactly the same way as North had. Then North announced it was time for the actual tour and swept him through the mail room, where all the letters were sorted and sent up to be read, the kitchens, where all the food was made, the library, where, after opening an old and interesting looking book, Koz discovered he could read Latin, and, after some experimentation, thirteen other languages besides English, and swear in several of them (well, actually, that hadn't been part of the experiment, he'd hit his head on the underside of a shelf...) pointed out the places he wasn't supposed to go, (unused guest bedrooms, mostly.) the room where all the finished gifts were kept, and North's personal favorite, the stables and take-off tunnels. Koz liked the reindeer, they were very soft to the touch and nuzzled against him happily - well, he enjoyed it until North let out half the stables on him when his back was turned, and when he turned around he found himself surrounded by a number of very large animals with very sharp looking antlers coming at him from all sides. "N-N-North?! N-North!"

***

North could barely contain his laughter as he listened to Kozmotis slowly growing nervous, but stepped in innocently before it could escalate too much. "Ye-e-es?" He said, stretching out the sound of the word, secretly amused to see that Koz was halfway up one of the support beams, the reindeer sniffing at his boots as he clung on for dear life. "D-did you let them out?" "Ye-e-es." "WHY?!" "You are too timid! You need to face your fears!" "H-how is this s-supposed to make m-me less afraid of ANYTHING?" Koz glanced between the reindeer, who were now bucking alarmingly in excitement and brandishing their admittedly sharp antlers, and the tall white haired man watching from below. "H-HELP ME!" North scratched his beard as he surveyed the situation. For a few moments longer than necessary. "NORTH!" "Alright, alright, I am comink." Gee, Kozmotis really didn't like heights and reindeer, did he?


	6. Explanations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I'm not dead. Just in case.  
> This actually all takes place about a year after the movie ends, so the kids would be about nine or ten. Also, I'm reeaallly sorry if I said something in earlier chapters that goes against that, pleease alert me if I have.  
> Also, I couldn't remember Caleb's name until I looked it up, (don't look at me like that, I remembered everyone else's names, didn't I?) so sorry about the whole "Matthew" thing, and if I missed any while fixing it.  
> Enjoy! It's basically just a little filler, but enjoy Sophie being cute and the little bits of plot I try to squeeze in.  
>  I don't own Rise of the Guardians, The Guardians of Childhood or that comic. They belong to Dreamworks and William Joyce, not to mention whoever wrote that comic. Wish I did own them, but I don't. I only own this particular story's plot.

Jack started educating the believers in Burgess and Koz about each other as soon as possible. Koz, of course, had to wait until he'd told him the basics of how to survive in the world. (Don't start fights, no matter how much they're asking for it, don't mess with Sandy, if either The Blizzard of '68 or the Easter of Twenty-Twelve comes up in a conversation, change the subject quickly, etcetera etcetera.) although he suspected Koz just wished he'd shut up. Jamie and his other friends, on the other hand, he told everything as soon as he touched down in Monty's backyard after Bunny left the North Pole with Koz and he'd finished with Canada some time in the late afternoon.   
  
***   
  
"Hey! It's Jack!" Cupcake noticed him first, and the others shot up and ran over to where Jack was balancing on the fence.   
"Hi guys! You won't believe the news!"   
Of course, that got them hooked before they even knew what it was.   
"Tell us!" Pippa was bouncing with excitement, and Jack savoured the moment for a second, watching them shift impatiently with a little smirk.   
"Well ladies and gentlemen, a most interesting event occurred about a week ago, you remember that?"   
"Yeah, you said you found Pitch."   
"Yes, well, said Bogeyman..." Jack paused for dramatic effect and the kids rolled their eyes.   
"Turned out not to be said Bogeyman at all." Jack balanced on the edge of the fence and put his chin in his hands, enjoying the shocked looks on their faces.   
"WHAT?!" they exclaimed simultaneously.   
Jack grinned.   
"What do you mean?"   
"If he's not the Bogeyman, who is he?"   
"Are you sure-"   
Jack held up his hands in front of him in a "stop, no more." sort of way, his staff still held in one of them, and the questions stopped. At that moment, Sophie toddled across the lawn and came to a stop at the foot of the fence with an "Oooh!", staring up at Jack.   
"Hi Soph'!" Jack jumped off the fence to land beside Sophie and picked her up, checking to see if there was anyone to see it. (he didn't want any "floating child." reports.)   
"Come on guys, let's find a place to sit."   
"Th-there's a place w-we tell c-campfire stories a-and roast marshmallows som-sometimes." offered Monty.   
"Perfect." 

*** 

"Okay, I know what I said before doesn't make too much sense, so I'm going to give you a better explanation, namely, we don't actually know. He looks a lot like Pitch, except he only has a little bit of grey on his neck, and he acts a bit like Pitch - I mean, obviously, he doesn't try to take over the world, but he walks the same way, and he talks the same way, but at the same time it's obvious he's a completely different person."   
Jack sighed. It was obviously going to be harder to explain than he thought.   
"What're his eyes like?" Claude asked.   
"They kinda look like Pitch's, except instead of being gold and silver, they're completely gold, almost yellow, even, like Sandy's, just a different shade."   
"Dresh?" questioned Sophie from his lap.   
"I'm pretty sure if you asked him that he'd say "it's a robe!"" (Jack poked Sophie's nose, and she giggled at his mock-frustrated face) "even though he's nice now and we wouldn't judge him, but no, he kinda looks like part of a marching band now, except all in shades of black and blue."   
"How come he's being nice?" that was Pippa.   
"He doesn't remember a thing."   
This prompted everyone except Sophie, who was playing with his hoodie's drawstrings, to start staring at him until Jamie voiced what they were all thinking.   
"What do you mean, "he doesn't remember"?"   
"I mean when he woke up he didn't know who we were or even who he was, in fact, the first thing he said was "that's not my name" when North called him Pitch."   
"Whaaaat?" Vocalized Claude and Caleb, extending the word as much as possible, the others raising their eyebrows at each other.   
"What does he think his name is then?"   
"He wouldn't tell us until Tooth asked, (he seemed to like her) well, she asked, and he just sort of stared at his hands and mumbled something like "Kozmotis"."   
"Kozmotis..." The kids each took a turn at trying to say his name, Cupcake being the most successful.   
"Yeah, Kozmotis, but we decided to call him Koz."   
Caleb frowned.   
"Why wouldn't he remember?"   
Jack looked at the circle of concrete in the middle of the circle of seats and shook his head at the memory.   
"I think it had something to do with the Nightmares. They didn't look too happy when they...took him away." They hadn't seen him being dragged away into that hole in the ground under the bed, shouting and struggling, and he didn't intend to upset them with that image.  
"D-does h-he s-still h-have th-the... you know, s-sand?" Monty made a sweeping gesture with his hands.   
Jack shook his head.   
"No, I'm pretty sure Sandy got it all, and the bits he didn't aren't going to follow Koz."   
"Why not?"   
"I...don't think he's in charge anymore."   
This didn't exactly answer the question, but they seemed to realise he didn't want to talk about it, and didn't say anything, for which Jack was grateful.   
"So what's he like?"   
"He hasn't been awake long enough for me to tell, but you know what? We're taking shifts in watching him, so when it's my turn, I'll bring him around and you can meet him!" 

*** 

"Hey Koz!"   
Jack burst into the room to find Koz sitting in the window frame and watching what looked like a frog. Koz jumped and stared at Jack in alarm, panting slightly.   
"D-don't do that!"   
" Aww, did I scare you?"   
"N-no."   
"You stuttered. Anyway, you know believers?"   
"Sanderson told me about them."   
Jack snorted.   
"Heh, Sanderson, well, I have a few down in Burgess I'd like to introduce you to."   
"Really?"   
"Mm-hm. I told them about you and they really want to meet you. So, you won't freak out when you meet them?"   
"Why would I-"   
"Never mind, well, one of them is my very first believer, pretty cool right?"   
Koz paused.   
"Are you sure they'll be able to see me?"   
"Don't worry about it. They will." 

***

Over the week or so, Jack delighted in telling his friends at Burgess all sorts of stories about Koz in his free time, giving them a clear idea of what he was like. They included the stuck-up-a-tree story Bunny told him, how he only dreamt about butterflies, his terrible teeth, (that one definitely grossed everyone out) not to mention the one he shared with anyone who'd listen about Koz, his shadow, and Jack being used as a climbing frame, which made them laugh so hard some of them cried tears of mirth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank fastfeetnella (and any recent guests) for leaving kudos, you have no idea how much that boosted my confidence!  
> Also, I think the scroll and italics might be working again...Nope, never mind, it's busted.


	7. The Tooth Palace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tea, memories and sword fighting.  
> Enjoy and please comment so I know you exist and don't go crazy subconsciously trying to work it out on my own to no avail. X).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so first things first, I'm sorry about the whole tea thing, nationality stereotypes aren't true. (hears there's a football match showing on the TV, dresses self and pets in every piece of team paraphernalia possible and proceeds to yell lungs out at the TV for two hours, only getting up during the ad breaks) Now, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, nationality stereotypes are not true, I'm sorry if I offended anyone, I just couldn't resist.  
> Please enjoy the chapter and tell me if I eff'ed up something. (Try not to be too harsh though, 'k?)  
> Also, I just realized I haven't put a disclaimer on any of my chapters, so, whoops! Better go back and do that quickly.  
> Neither Rise of the Guardians, The Guardians of Childhood, that web comic, any of the characters therein or the plot of any of them, are not my intellectual property. I would like it if they were, but they aren't. They belong to Dreamworks, whoever made that comic and William Joyce. I only own the plot to this particular story.

Koz was finishing up his breakfast of tea and crumpets (Unlike North, he much preferred tea to coffee or hot chocolate, which was, apparently, incredibly amusing for reasons everyone except him seemed to understand) on the stairs that connected the Globe Room to North's study and trying to wake up properly when Tooth arrived, a bag at her side. She zoomed around his head several times, her and her small swarm of fairies piping up greetings with great enthusiasm before she dove straight towards his face and expertly wedged her fingers between his jaws to pry them apart.   
Koz wasn't even surprised. For one, she was the Tooth Fairy, it was her job, and for another, he saw from the bathroom mirror that his mouth's condition was, quite frankly, absolutely terrible. Even though they couldn't have been in existence for more than a month, (one of them on the bottom left hadn't even started growing in yet) his teeth appeared age worn and neglected. They jutted out at strange angles, and were all of completely unsymmetrical shape and size, as though they had had bits chipped off and worn down over many years. And not only were they an unhealthy grey colour, but the tissue of his gums was also spotted with patches of it, and they were swollen, throbbing dully and sometimes even bleeding when he bit down on something, or, for that matter, cleaned his teeth. He endured her inspections, mumbling, probing, questions and fussing patiently, waiting for her to take her delicate fingers out of his mouth and stop tilting his head from side to side to get better light. He could tell she was worried about him, but she hid it well with her bright smile and vigorous chattering.   
"Have you been cleaning them?"   
"Yehff."   
"Does it hurt if I touch it here?" she carefully but firmly pressed a fingertip against his gums and he winced.   
"Mm."   
She frowned and pulled his lip out to get a better look.   
"Oh, it's worse than I thought."   
"Woh ith?"   
"I think you might have trench mouth or something."   
" _Woh?!_ " he exclaimed in alarm.   
"You have a bacterial buildup, and it's making your gums turn grey and swell up. Nevermind! I'll get you something for it at the Tooth Palace!" And she let go of his chin suddenly, making him jerk backwards on his own momentum and almost drop his cup. He steadied it and quickly popped the last of his crumpet into his mouth, chewed (wincing a little) and swallowed, standing up and putting the cup on a nearby shelf where hopefully nothing could knock it off and break it before someone took it back to the kitchen.   
"I-I assume we're leaving now?"   
"Yes. How are you with heights?"   
"I-If I'm not in danger o-of falling from them, I-I'm fine."   
"Oh good. Er, is it alright if the girls carry you there?"   
"U-um, yes?"   
"Let's get going then!" and he felt a great many tiny but remarkably strong hands attached themselves to the fabric of his coat and lift. Tooth giggled.   
"Wh-what is it?"   
"You kind of look a bit like one of us..."   
Koz looked down and realised she was right. The fairies covered a large portion of his coat, so it almost looked like he was covered in feathers. He could only imagine what he would look like in a mirror, and he grinned. 

*** 

Koz found he liked this form of flying much better than the others. From what he could remember of North's sleigh rides, they consisted mainly of being loud, cold, and doing aerial maneuvers that made him want to throw up. He couldn't remember much about Sandy's plane at all, since he had spent most of it asleep and the rest staring at the ocean, which got boring after a while. This, however, he could sit back and enjoy. Although it was still coldish and they were still going at almost breakneck speed, he wasn't going to fall, there were no over-the-top aerial gymnastics that made him feel like hurling, the view was quite entertaining, and it was peacefully quiet besides the humming of the fairies' wings and the little chirps and squeaks they made.   
He laughed out of exhilaration. He'd never felt so alive before in his whole life.   
Up ahead, Tooth took a snow globe out of the bag at her side and threw it at the air in front of them, where it exploded into a swirl of colour and they dove through it, emerging with a whooshing sound a couple of hundred metres from Punjam Hy Loo. 

*** 

They touched down on the beautifully designed floor and Tooth was immediately swarmed by fairies, to whom she relayed a dizzyingly fast stream of information. Koz got a headache trying to make it all out. When the cloud around her thinned enough they could see each other, Tooth caught his eye and laughed again suddenly.   
"W-what is it? There aren't any still on me. Are there?" he checked himself over for any remaining fairies quickly.   
Tooth shook her head as she replied, interrupting herself every now and then with more instructions.   
"No, it's just - lateral incisor, 12th Railway Station Street, Sector Three - Jack told me and - cuspid, 52nd 443rd street, Sector Twenty-Six - North the funniest story - secondary molar, 23rd Magnolia Lane, Sector Eleven - the other day."   
Koz's jaw dropped and he ran his hands through his hair and groaned.   
"He wouldn't DARE..." he stopped and looked at her with an urgent look on his face.   
"Which one?"   
She put a hand over her mouth and snorted with suppressed laughter at the thought.   
"The shadow one. And he acted bits out..."   
Koz raked his fingers through his hair again and held his breath with his eyes closed in an attempt to calm down. It didn't work and they snapped open.   
"I'll kill tha' frozen blue corpse!"   
Tooth's eyes widened.   
"Bunny wasn't lying about your voice."   
"Bunny's bin tellin' people stories about me too? That overgrown bilby ha' better..."   
Tooth giggled and resumed giving her mini-fairies addresses, giving Koz ten minutes or so to work off his anger and frustration - the former at Jack and Bunny, the latter at being unable to kill them until he got back.   
  
*** 

"D-do you ever get a-any time to yourself?"   
Tooth turned to see that Koz had finally (it had taken a lot longer than the few minutes she had given) stopped pacing and muttering insults and plans for Jack and Bunny's inevitable demise and was now standing off to the side and watching her and her mini-fairies with interest.   
"Yes, I do - central incisor, 25th Central Crescent, Sector Thirty-Six - it's just that some of - two first molars and a cuspid, 2nd 444th Street, Sector Nineteen - the fairies get a bit hazy, so I have to wait until - cuspid, 1st Elm Parade, Sector Two - it's night in a less occupied time zone or - secondary molar, The Red Door, 9th Column Abbey, Sector Thirty-Three- one where something else collects the teeth - central incisor, 41st Forbern Avenue, Sector Twenty - I think a few are coming up soon, and then - primary molar, 14th Mayer Crescent, Sector Ninety-Six - I'll show you something."   
Koz took a moment to finish working that out and nodded, sitting down and leaning against a nearby pillar to wait, watching Tooth. After a while, she got tired of flying and sat down next to him, smiling as various fairies landed on him as they waited for instructions. BabyTooth was on duty and landed on his forehead, her tail feathers tickling his nose. He sneezed violently and she flew off his face, Tooth laughing outright at their misfortune and Koz wiped his nose and joined in. 

*** 

"Koz? Koz!"   
Koz jerked awake with a start when Tooth shook him, seeing the concerned look on her face, his own mirrored it.   
"Wh-what's wrong?" he could tell she was upset about something, and obviously concerned, but there was a different kind of fear there too. Like panic.  
Tooth remembered what Jack had told them about Koz forgetting his dreams - or in this case, nightmares - as soon as he woke just in time and quickly thought up a new reply, thankfully one that was true.   
"Nothing, it's just that we have a few hours before we come back to a timezone where I've assigned fairies that need my directions."   
"W-why do they need directions? W-won't they just know th-the way?" Koz got up slowly and stretched, his spine cracking.   
"Well, I suspect most of them do know the way, but they want me to tell them anyway."   
"A-alright then?"   
Tooth brightened.   
"Oh! I forgot for a moment there! Come with me!" and with that, she grabbed him by the arm and almost dragged him along beside her. 

*** 

"W-wow...just...wow."   
Tooth had taken him to a room where a great, brightly colored mural covered a wall. It showed Tooth (or someone who looked a great deal like her) holding her hand out to humans dressed in robes, who were holding up teeth for her to take.   
"I-it's beautiful."   
"Do you know why we collect the teeth Koz?"   
Koz nodded.   
"Sandy explained it too me. They hold memories. I'm not entirely sure why that's important, though."   
"They hold the most important memories of childhood. We collect the teeth to keep those memories safe, so that in times of great danger or need we can give them their memories and they will remember their childhoods and act, and make choices with wisdom and compassion."   
Koz was a little surprised by all this. He knew the tooth collecting had to have an important purpose, but he didn't think it was that solemn a reason. He looked at the mural again, and realized that the humans weren't giving the teeth.   
They were receiving them.   
Koz decided to ask Tooth a question.   
"T-Tooth...do you have any of my teeth? Sandy doesn't think so, b-but you might."   
Tooth wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question.   
"I'm afraid not. And even if I did, I don't think it would work. We don't know if you were human or even alive before now, so my magic might not work on them."   
There was a pause and Koz stared at the water at his feet with his hands twisting around each other tightly, before they loosened their iron grip and he turned his head slightly to look at her shyly out of the corner of his eye.   
"I-is there...any other way of remembering?"   
"Well, if we had something of emotional significance from your life before, it might cause you to have a flashback or something, but we don't have anything like that. The only things we found you in were the clothes you've got on now."   
Koz's eyes dropped back to look at the water. 

*** 

Could this really be the same spirit who kidnapped her fairies and tried to plunge the world into darkness? He looked so different to him and at the same time so similar. His hair lay back against his head in the same way, he had the same face and body and the same mannerisms. He even clasped his hands behind his back in the same way, and when they had laughed earlier that day, he had sounded just like him. But at the same time, he was so different. His eyes were no longer grey gold but more of a golden yellow, and they had deep, dark marks under them from lack of sleep, his back and shoulders were hunched and he bent his knees slightly at all times except when he was angry, as though trying to make his tall gangly frame look small (Toothiana wished him luck with that) he was very pale, as though he hadn't seen the light of day for a very, very long time, which, if the greyness somehow shielded it from the sun, she supposed he hadn't, and he didn't exactly ooze confidence the way he used to, and when he laughed it was no longer a thinly veiled threat dripping with malice, but an innocent, mirthful reaction to something he genuinely found funny. In fact, it was like he was a completely different person now, and as she thought this, something she had said to Jack a year or so ago came back to her.   
"We were all someone before we were chosen."   
What if Pitch was someone else before he was Pitch Black? What if his grey skin and antisocial (though mostly just toxic) attitude was due to almost becoming a shadow after blending into them for so many years, and being pushed aside and "replaced"? What if the shy, slightly clumsy man looking around her home in pure wonder was who he had been before he became sour and malevolent? 

*** 

"There was something else I wanted to show you."   
Koz snapped out of the fascination-fueled trance he was inspecting the tooth boxes in and looked up at Tooth. Apparently when he was distracted by the millions of brightly colored containers, she had flown off and come back with...swords?   
He raised a non-existent eyebrow at them. Tooth touched down and placed the bundle of weapons on the ground and turned to look at him, smiling and making enthusiastic hand gestures.   
"We all know you're basically a sitting duck without us there to protect you - don't look at me like that you know it's true - so I decided to teach you how to use a sword." There was a pause and Koz looked behind him as though he expected someone else to be there, then he looked back at her and put a hand on his chest questioningly.   
"Me? Wi-with one of those things?" he pointed at the sharp objects.   
"Yes, you. And they're called swords. You use them for fighting, and I'm going to teach you how to do that, so pick one out."   
Koz knew enough about swords to know they were heavy, so he tried a lighter looking one with a thin blade and a hand guard. Tooth picked out something that looked more like a saber than what he had and started explaining what she knew about sword fighting.   
"In the air, it's about balance and momentum, but on the ground it's more about footwork. Most of what I know about that comes from what the other person is doing because I've never done it on the ground before, but I'll do my best."   
She then showed him where to place his feet and different positions and various ways to tell his opponent's next move, and to his surprise he felt almost every piece of information slipping into place in his head, as though it had always been there, and they practiced together with covers over the blades of their swords, slowly at first as he figured out how to put the information she had given him to use and her correcting his mistakes, and then faster as he figured out the ropes, and within half an hour he was sparring with her as though he had been doing it for years.   
Tooth grinned and parried another strike.   
"You're a natural at this! How are you this good?"   
"I-I think I'm j-just a fast learner."   
She nodded, aiming a swing at his head which he blocked quickly, and she leaned over their locked blades so they could see each other more clearly.   
"Care for a break?"   
He was sweating a little by now (strange, spirits didn't really do that unless they were absolutely exhausted) and relaxed a bit, nodding. They unlocked their swords and sat down on a ledge while Tooth sent a few fairies hanging around and watching to get some lunch, and they ate it looking out over the jungle below Punjam Hy Loo.   
"You can keep it if you want."   
"What, the sword?"   
"Yes, you can even have the old sheath for it."   
"Oh. W-well...thank you." he smiled gratefully at her.  
"You're welcome." she smiled back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My reasoning for Koz getting tired easily, the circles under his eyes and his mouth problems is that they were all directly caused by the Fearlings abusing their "vessel" for so many millennia. The tiredness and circles are from sleep deprivation (we never see Pitch sleep except when Sandy makes him) and the exhaustion and mouth problems are from starvation and poor dental hygiene (I reckoned that fear doesn't give that much nutrition, probably only enough to keep him alive and moving, and it's obvious Pitch - or rather the Fearlings - never felt the need to clean his teeth, I mean, what use is a mouth when you feed on fear?) so when you think about it, it only makes sense he'd get an infection.  
> And yes I changed the title. Like I said I would.  
> Also, can someone tell me how many words a novel is on here? Sorry to sound ignorant but I'm new to this whole thing. Also, what's a hit? Because I'm getting a lot of them and I'm unsure whether to be pleased or not.


	8. Snowball Fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one will probably give you whiplash. Sorry.  
> You have been warned...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hesitate to ask questions about the story people!!!  
> Enjoy a Sophie moment! (Or my attempt at one, anyway).

Mother Nature was not normally one to keep an eye on other spirits, but there was an exception; an insufferable member of the Unseelie which she openly despised. It, she kept a close watch on.   
So her confusion was understandable when, about a year ago, they had completely disappeared off of her radar. She sent out her scouts to find them but it was as if it had disappeared off the face of the earth. When she found out that the Guardians had defeated it and it had been swarmed by the Nightmares, (despicable copies of the Sandman's beautiful creations, no wonder he held a grudge against the Nightmare King) she wasn't sure what to think. It was obvious that once they had defeated them, it would have been incredibly weak, and might even have faded away. She wasn't sure how to react to that. On one hand, she hated them with a mother bear's ferocity, and whenever they met, she was always the first to resort to violence (which she always, always did) and she relished the thought of hurting the spirit whom had caused her so much pain. On the other hand, she felt an almost unnatural need to defend it, and it showed. Whenever she knew he was being attacked, she would run to its defense, and fight off whoever was hurting it. So she felt part relief and a slightly twisted pleasure at their probable demise, and part horror and the urge to enact vengeance on those who had, or as good as had, slain it. She supposed one could call it a love-hate relationship.   
Then, one day, a bird flew in to her caverns and landed on a branch, cawing loudly in distress. When she had calmed him down enough for the images in his head to slow down enough for her to make out, she gasped and almost fell off of her branch in surprise.   
It was alive. She was shocked and angered by the news, but put off enquiring any further.   
Over the next week she heard nothing more until it was spotted somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, and then again two days later over Asia. And when her informants reported seeing him with the elemental risen from the grave and given the gift of control over the ice and snow and the protection of the Wind by the Ts-the Man in the Moon himself, she had had enough and decided to investigate.   
She turned to a raccoon.   
"Ready my armor." 

*** 

Koz woke up that day the same way he did every other day - with Jack's widely smiling face in his own. And, as he did every day, he jerked backwards with a cry of "GAH!" and hit his head on the bedframe.   
He let out an "Ugh" and turned to glare at the elemental grinning widely beside his bed.   
"Do you find causing me pain enjoyable in some sadistic, twisted way, Frost?"   
Jack shrugged (he had gotten over the expression Koz made when he saw him before he hit his head on the bed) and propped his chin in his hands, elbows on the edge of the mattress and staff in between them.   
"I dunno, I guess it's just the "chaotic" part of my chaotic good character showing through."   
"Your what?"   
"Kay-ot-ic. Goo-de. It's a term that just describes me in general."   
"I guess I can see how." His eyes narrowed.   
Jack noticed and frowned, cocking his head.   
"What's wrong?"   
"Nothing, it's just occurred to me that I haven't killed you for yesterday yet!" He grabbed Jack's staff and threw the covers off. Jack yelped and decided it was best to start running now since he couldn't use his staff, or fly without its help unless he was outside.   
He started running. 

*** 

Bunny had dropped in for a cuppa before heading back home to get started on preparing for egg production. He and North were leaning against the dashboard (or whatever it was) that housed the lever for the Aurora Borealis and controls for the Globe having one of their friendly little arguments when Jack, without his staff and laughing breathlessly and Kozmotis, carrying said staff, and apparently having just gotten up, because he didn't have on the coat and boots he normally did, a waistcoat over his simple white long sleeved shirt and bare feet slamming against the floor as he chased the ice elf. They burst through one door and ran right through their field of vision and out another door, Koz yelling something in a strange mixture of English and Norwegian the entire time that sounded like "I'll kill ya, ya little slime-sucking-"   
North paused with a cup to his face and Bunny nearly choked on the drink in his mouth. When he had recovered from that and North's slaps on the back he straightened and turned to him.   
"One, what was all that about, and two, where the _bloody hell_ did he get that insult?"   
North's mouth twitched beneath his facial hair.   
"To da first question, I tink Tooth told heem about Jack's shadow story. And to de second, I tink he might have somehow peeked up Yeti while stayink here."   
Bunny chuckled.   
"Ah, THAT story." the smirk slowly slid off his face and he turned back to North.   
"He picked up Yeti?! Really? How in Moon's name did 'e do that?!"   
"I dto not know, but his vocabulary is expandink all the time. It would be a leetle bit alarmink if it was not so excitink."   
Bunny's eyes widened, then they narrowed and his eyebrows furrowed anxiously.   
"Are you sure this is a good thing, mate? His memory could be coming back!"   
North, too, furrowed his gigantic white brows in thought before un-furrowing them and shaking his head.   
"No, I think he ees just learnink quickly. Yes?"   
"If ya say so."   
There was a pause.   
"Should we go help Jack? I think Koz has his staff, and you know he can't fly without that thing in here."   
"Eh, he only has to evade capture until Koz gets tired, he finds a way outside, one of the yetis is responsible enough to restrain Koz, or the silly thing remembers the secret word."   
"Ah, you mean the vett'n'marr jor." Bunny chuckled.   
"You'd think he'd remember by now. Ah well, what were we talkin' about again?" 

*** 

Koz finally doubled over with his hands on his knees, wheezing.   
"Truce?"   
"F-fine, truce. I'll kill you later."   
"You do realize I could have stopped you at any moment, right?"   
"Ah...no? How would you do that?" "Those handcuff things will lock together if I use a certain password." Kozmotis examined the cuffs on his wrists, confused. "...How- How does that work?" "I dunno. Magic, maybe?" Jack pretended to examine his nails.   
"So, uh, when are you going to give me my staff back?"   
"Wh-what? O-oh, here you go."   
"Thanks. Hey, you wanna go steal some food from the kitchens before we head out?"   
"W-wouldn't it be easier to ask f-for it?"   
"You're no fun." 

*** 

"J-Jack, a-are you SURE y-you won't drop me?"   
"Positive. Er, well, fairly positive."   
"Wh-what?!"   
"Here we go!" The wind lifted them up and Koz bit back a yelp and tightened his grip around Jack's waist as the ground moved further and further away.   
"Don't worry! Wind is _waaay_ more reliable in these sorts of situations than I am, so If I drop you, they probably won't!"   
"You're-you're not helping, you know that?!" 

*** 

Once they had gotten outside of the barrier that stopped them from entering the North Pole with magic (the one and only exception was when the yetis and Bunny had kidnapped Jack, something Bunny frequently complained about since he had to be in contact with the ground) Jack landed and, pulling a snow globe out of his hoodie pocket, awkwardly held it near his face (no way did he want it to mishear him or something) and repeated Jamie's address as clearly as he could before hurling it into the air in front of him. It exploded with a weird swooshing sound and they swept through. 

*** 

Jamie stared.   
Holy moly Jack had been right, this guy looked almost exactly like Pitch. The only difference was he didn't look like...well, he looked like a normal person. The dre - the robe he wore that blended into his skin like it was part of him was gone, replaced by scuffed black boots, black pants and a slightly off-white shirt and a vest thingy under a grey-blue coat embroidered with strange symmetrical patterns in silver thread. There was a belt at his waist and Jamie nervously eyed the sword sheath attached to it. It was full. Other things were different about him too. He no longer looked like a black-and-white photo that someone had colored the eyes of in with a gold crayon. The only traces of grey were some coin-sized spots on his neck just under his left ear, and the rest of him was very pale, almost unnaturally so, like Jack. His eyes were a pure, almost yellow gold, his hair, although still black and swept back, had streaks of grey and flecks of white in it, like someone had sprinkled sugar onto it, and he seemed shorter, thinner somehow. Adding to his non-threatening-ness was the fact he appeared to be just as scared of them as they were of him (well, actually, they were more on the wary side and he looked like he was going to start hyperventilating soon).   
"Go on, go say hello to the other children." Jack squalled in a mocking fake female voice, pushing Pi- Kozmotis towards them.   
Koz glared over his shoulder at Jack before turning back to them.   
When he smiled nervously and raised his hand in a quick wave Jamie noticed the infamous teeth Jack had been telling them about.   
"H-hello. I'm Koz."   
"Oooo."   
He looked down.   
There was a human child, much younger than the others holding the sword Tooth had given him and inspecting it.   
Everyone let out a panicked sound and rushed forward. Jack quickly stopped them from getting too close.   
"Careful! If she doesn't want to let it go she could cut herself!"   
Koz sloowly knelt down on his knees and lowered his voice. By his reckoning, this was Jamie's little sister who was three years old Jack had told him about.   
"S-Sophie?" his voice cracked a little nervously and he cleared his throat.   
"S-Sophie?" she looked up at him.   
"C-could you g-give m-me my sword back please?"   
She hesitated.   
"I-it's just, it was a gift to me from the Tooth Fairy, a-and I don't want her to think I lost it. It's very important t-to me."   
Sophie vaguely remembered a big green fluttery fairy, who was very pretty and had a nice voice. She gave people shiny things when their teeth came out. If this shiny thing was a gift from her, this person must have lost a tooth, and to get such a nice gift as this meant he must be very nice. But he might be lying. He was smiling at her and some of his teeth poked out. They were the color Jamie said her teeth would be if she didn't clean them, but worse.   
She leaned forward- still clutching his gift tightly - and put her small, round fingers on his lips, tugging at one. He quickly realized what she wanted and opened his mouth. She was so close now he could see every hair on her head. He held his breath.   
Sophie peered into his mouth, a look of utmost concentration on her face as she searched for the gap in his jawline. He had very yellow teeth, with the occasional grey one showing through.  
Tooth, tooth, tooth, tooth, tooth - there it was! The gap that proved he had lost a tooth and that the shiny present was his!   
She let go of him and he hesitantly closed his mouth, watching her anxiously.   
She held out the sword.   
"It's for you. Tooth Faiwy says brush your teef."   
Koz took the sword and sheathed it quickly, giving it a fond pat to cement what he had said about it being important. (not that it wasn't) and rolled his eyes dramatically.   
"Tell me about it. Sh-she's thinking about BRACES, will you believe it?" (She had said that when they were eating yesterday and he had nearly choked)   
Sophie giggled. Monty had braces. She imagined what the man would look like wearing braces. The Tooth Fairy would probably make them very colorful because his teeth were not.   
Meanwhile, everyone was staring at them in disbelief.   
"Jack, you seeing this?"   
"Mm-hm."   
"Situation analysis?"   
"Koz doesn't want to wear braces."   
  
*** 

"Hey Koz?"   
"Y-yeah?"   
"Do you wanna have a snowball fight?"   
"What-what's a snowball fight?"

"Oooh ho ho, Kozmotis my man, you have no idea what you're missing! It's only the best thing ever!" 

"S-sure, why not?"   
"Yes!" Jack pumped his fist victoriously and Sophie sat down off to the side. She was old enough to understand she wasn't old enough to handle her elders' violent ways. 

*** 

Mother Nature landed silently in a tree and peered through the thick , leafless branches, her armor blending in perfectly with the bark. She looked around and then...  
She saw them. It felt…strange, seeing the Nightmare King running and ducking about as if he hadn't a care in the world and did not feel it beneath him to engage in the simple, ungainly games of human children She thought for a moment it was really him, but then her common sense and miraculous eyesight set her straight. True, it's skin had lost its grey hue and was a more normal shade now - though pale, and the laugh! - but then she saw the spots on it's neck and realized with a surge of anger that it was a disguise. How DARE it wear his uniform! How DARE it laugh his laugh! How dare it further tarnish his visage by wearing it! She would teach it never again to wear that coat, to bring up memories best forgotten and pretend it was anything but the piece of filth it was!

*** 

It turned out that Koz was quite good at throwing things. The fight had been going on for just over an hour, now. There were various waist high mounds of snow scattered around the clearing they had decided to hold their mini war in and they dove behind the temporary forts to evade the snowballs, and dived between them to get a clear shot at the enemy and move around. Koz peeked above the one he was behind to get a clear shot at Jack. The younger looking spirit's eyes widened and he pointed behind him.   
"Koz! Look out!"   
Koz laughed and was about to nail Jack in the face with a snowball, (he must think he was an idiot to think he'd fall for that one!) pulling back his arm for a not-too-powerful throw (he didn't want to break his nose) when he realised something.   
They were afraid.   
Something wrapped painfully tight closed around his wrist and yanked him backwards at high speed. His side scraped against the ground and it hurt a lot more than it should for some reason.   
Jack started grabbing the kids and pushing them out of harm's way, yelling at them to run for safety and home.   
Koz finally came to a stop at the feet of a woman in armor that mimicked the colors of the scenery behind her. She reached down and lifted his light, thin frame by the front of the collar of his coat until they were face to face and her green-fire eyes stared into his wide, frightened gold ones.   
"Hey! You leave him alone!" Jack pushed the last of the kids through a hole in the fence and charged at the mysterious woman. She held her other hand up and vines shot up from the ground and wrapped themselves around one of his legs, bringing him crashing to the ground, his staff flying out of his hand and clattering to a stop. The vines started climbing both his legs, securing him to the ground.   
She turned back to Kozmotis.   
"How DARE you."   
"W-what?" his fingers scrabbled at her strong, gauntleted forearm, kicking and desperately trying to make her release him.   
"How DARE you wear his uniform as if you are even a fraction the man he was! To taunt me and tarnish his image?!"   
"I-I don't even know wh-who you are! O-or who you're talking about! J-just let us go!"   
She sneered at him.   
"Nice try. Time and battle have not been kind to you. You have grown weak and foolish since I last saw you. You said something similar to me all those years ago; "Who are you?", well, ShadowsPuppet, I'm going to make sure you remember me this time."   
Koz didn't know why, but the hungry look on her face made his hands start to shake a little.  
He looked desperately for a way to make her drop him.  
It was no use kicking or hitting her, the armor would absorb and deflect his blows, and he didn't have the strength to remove her iron grip with his hands. He thought of his sword and his right hand went to his waist, his other barely keeping him from hanging himself, but she saw it move and caught his wrist with her free hand.   
"What's this?" her voice purred, low and sinister, and she enjoyed the way its already shaking hands trembled even more and it's already wide eyes went positively huge in fear. She tipped her head to the side and noticed the hilt of a sword in their belt. It looked disturbingly similar to HIS sword and she raised her head to stare down the thin, weakened man in her grasp.   
"You really went all-out with this, didn't you?" The sweet, almost gentle tone barely managed to conceal her anger, the edges poking out and jabbing it's nerves. With a swift movement, she hit it across the face with the back of her gauntleted hand, drawing blood from it's cheek, just below the eye. It gasped in pain _(what it's never done that before shut up) and_ she let go of its wrist, trusting it to be distracted by the cut for long enough so she could grab the weapon. It touched its face gently and drew its hand back, seeing the darker-than-normal blood. It looked up in time to see her drop the sword to the ground. He looked back at her, terror written across his features. Now he knew. She could hurt him and his friends, and probably would. He looked over at Jack, struggling to freeze the vines off. He gulped and made a decision.   
"H-hurt me all you want, b-but p-please don't hurt the others. Th-they haven't done a-anything wrong and-"   
Her eyes narrowed.   
"I am not interested in the children. I am against the harming of innocents."   
He breathed a sigh of relief and hung limply from her hand except for the arms supporting his weight.   
"I will, however, when I am finished with you, deal with the frost spirit. He is an associate of yours and must be killed." She paused,   
"You should know you will still be alive." a cruel smile stretched across her face, and she leaned in to savor his terror.   
He did not think he could be more afraid.   
She was going to hurt him, and then she would make him watch while she killed his friend.   
No. Jack couldn't die.

More confident now, he voiced his thoughts.

"You-you can't kill him." She cocked her head, almost curious.

"What's going to stop me?"

"H-he can't die, he told me so himself."

"Ah, you thought I was referring to the petty death of the fragile mortals. No, ShadowsPuppet, he indeed could not die even if he wanted to. I meant I, being an elemental of a sort as well, and therefore on the same power current, would absorb his power until there is nothing left of him but a fragile crystal of a soul hidden somewhere on this earth." Her head turned back to Jack and she smiled that terrifying smile. "Sound familiar, _frostidraugr_?" 

Despite his situation, Jack couldn't help but memorise the insult for later analysis and possible use. He hadn't heard that one before.

Then, he suddenly cottoned on to what she meant. 

She was going to _absorb_ him. 

_Sandy had told him what it was like. It was as if you could see all that was happening through the eyes of whatever maniac was using your power, yet you wouldn't be able to do anything._

_Koz didn't like whatever could shock Jack enough to stop him trying to get out of the vines._

He wouldn't let her do it.   
He looked around frantically for some way of escaping her grip, and this time he spotted the gold-grey locket against her breastplate. It was attached to a chain around her neck. If he reached out and drew it tight with his hand, he could choke her and she might let go.   
He shot his hand out at her neck and drew the chain as tight as he could. She choked for a few moments, then the chain snapped and she threw him to the ground from surprise, lack of air and pain. He immediately scrambled up and dove for the sword, grabbing it and racing towards Jack who was trying to freeze the vines to brittleness, but without his staff, they regrew faster than he could freeze them and kept him on the ground. Behind him, the woman looked up, weakly raising a hand. Vines shot out of her it and wrapped themselves with a whiplike crack around his middle, making him jerk to a stop and yelp in pain, thorns digging into his sides. Her head dropped. He slashed at the restraints and miraculously avoided cutting himself open in favor of a few scratches. He ran to Jack and started sawing at the vines, which were soon a mess of plant on the ground as Jack shot up and grabbed his staff while the woman began to recover, shoving Koz behind him and into the shade of a tree they were standing under.   
She stood up slowly and shakily, her own blasts of ice deflecting any Jack shot at her as she started walking towards them slowly and menacingly. Jack retreated into the shade step by step, Koz could feel his panic growing as they were backed up against the trunk of the tree, a garden wall on one side and behind them.   
Then the mysterious woman held up both hands, blue white fire collecting in one hand and a pure white miniature blizzard collecting in the other, preparing to shower them with searing heat and freezing cold at the same time, effectively killing them both painfully, and Koz felt a single moment of pure, absolute mortal fear for both Jack and himself, and as the deadly storm of fire and ice sped towards them and he felt it on his face, and suddenly the shade became a bottomless pit that swallowed him and Jack whole. 

*** 

Jack didn't know what had happened. First the maelstorm of fire and ice was rushing towards them and he was panicking and feeling the heat on his cheek, Koz shoved behind him in an attempt to protect him, and than he and Koz were tumbling out of thin air and landing in a painful heap onto North's hard wooden floor in the Globe Room, and Koz was scrambling off his back and staring at him.   
"D-did you d-do th-that?"   
At, first, Jack didn't know what Koz meant, and he just opened his mouth to say "What?", but then it hit him. Koz used to be Pitch, Pitch could control the shadows, and move using them at will, even taking others through with him, and Koz didn't remember his past, so if he could do everything Pitch could, and since the shadow blend he had just dragged him into was probably involuntary because Koz wouldn't know how to use it, of course he would assume it was Jack.   
Then he noticed the copious amounts of blood soaking through his coat and dripping from his cheek.   
"Man in MOON that's a lot of blood! Hey, Koz, we've gotta find North or someone, you're bleeding all over the place!" he got up and hauled Koz to his feet, yelling for North and Phil as he did so and draping one of Koz's arms over his shoulder as Koz leaned his weight against him, his slight frame barely registering in Jack's senses, blood smearing all over them. Koz felt faint and leant against Jack, struggling to stand up, the shorter spirit forcing him towards North's study.   
North reached them before they could get halfway down the corridor, pulling Koz off Jack and asking questions so fast he barely caught the first few, yetis rushing up around them, then clearing a path for the three spirits to make their way to Koz's bedroom. Jack ran along behind, trying to keep up with the larger Guardians long strides and trying to answer his questions at the same time.   
"We were attacked by this woman! She grabbed him by the neck and tied me to the ground with vines. From what I could hear her telling him, she was gonna beat the stuffing out of Koz and then make him watch while she absorbed me! You know, like Sandy! I think it's mostly his torso and face, but she might have got him somewhere else as well." They reached his door and North flung it open, laying Koz down on the bed where he started unbuttoning his coat.   
"Jack, send Pheel up with first aid kit, clean washcloths, water and towels, and send out de Northern Lights!"   
"Yessir!" Jack felt the odd urge to salute but ignored it and barreled out the door and downstairs, listing the medical equipment off to Phil and zooming off into the Globe Room and activating the Aurora Borealis. (He had to admit he'd always wanted to do that. He'd wanted to do it even more once North gave him the "don't touch anything unless I say you can." talk) Then he walked back upstairs to check on Koz, getting barked at to go back to the Globe and wait for the others to arrive and tell them what was happening.   
Jack paced back and forth impatiently. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes for them all to get there but it felt like forever. Bunny and Sandy burst into the room demanding in words and with question marks and candy canes to know where North was and what had happened. Jack started explaining just as Tooth flew in and he had to start all over again, making him, Bunny and Sandy stand on edge even more, so he shortened it as much as possible.   
"Koz and I were attacked by a crazy woman and she hurt him badly, North's taking care of him upstairs and I'll tell you more later, he's in his room, come on!" Jack said this as fast as possible and zoomed up the stairs, the others following at top speed.   
Jack slowed down, signaling to the others that they should do the same and opened the door carefully (if North was giving Koz stitches or something he didn't want to startle him.)   
North had removed the coat and shirt and was very gently cleaning the wounds so that they didn't start bleeding again, Koz breathing deeply as though unconscious, but every time North put the cloth to his skin his face scrunched up slightly as if he could feel the sting.   
Tooth and Bunny gasped quietly in shock before the giant rabbit pushed past Jack and started unpacking his bandolier on the bedside table, taking out a fragrant substance and holding it out to North.   
"This should help."   
North looked surprised, but then he accepted the offering.

"Tank you Bunny."   
Tooth flew over and started fluttering over North's shoulder.   
"How deep do they go? Will it leave scars? Ooh, I'll kill whoever did this! Will they need stitches North?"   
"Da. It will need stitches, and it most likely will leave a scar, or maybe several. He won't be able to leave bed for while. And there will be bruises on his neck. But there is something else."   
"What?" Tooth hovered even closer, Bunny leaned in and Jack looked up from where he had been feeling guilty about being unable to move to help Koz.   
"He has several broken ribs, and a few of the cuts he got from the Nightmares have reopened."   
Jack leaned in to see and suddenly noticed something. An obviously long-healed scar was spanning down the center of Koz's chest on an angle. Jack frowned.   
"North, what's that?"   
"Ah, that. You remember when we told you about Nightlight? He stabbed Pitch, yes?"   
Jack grimaced. Yeah, he remembered. It was almost painful thinking he'd been another person, especially since he remembered absolutely none of it except a ship sailing through the night sky, and the laugh of a baby.   
He glanced back down at Koz's now clean and patched-up wounds, which North was binding firmly with bandages.   
Sorry Koz, it won't happen again.   
"Jack?"   
"Yeah?"   
"Vhen vhe are done vhe can go outside and hyou will tell us everythink that happened, alright?"   
"Alright."   
He wasn't looking forward to this. Ah well, might as well have some fun. North probably knew what that madwoman was talking about.

"Hey North?"

"Da?"

"What does "frostidraugr" mean?" 

To his delight, North froze, then looked up at him. But the expression on his face wasn't the one Jack was expecting. 

"Where deed you hear that word, Jack?" 

"That crazy woman called me it. Why? What does it mean?" 

"Eez very old language. Old Norse. Humans stopped using it almost three hundred years before you were even born. It had two variations. West Old Norse, or Old Icelandic, and East Old Norse. Was used all throughout Scandinavia and beyond at one point." 

"Hm, more interesting than I thought it would be. But what does it mean?" 

"I was getting to that. She called you a frozen undead." 

""Frozen undead"? So, like, a zombie popsicle?" 

North shrugged. 

"Call it vhat you will, is still cold corpse that refuses to die." 

"Huh. Accurate choice of words then. Strong, but accurate." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gee, sure wasn't intending for her to be THAT eff'ed up...  
> Anyway, please comment so I know I'm not all alone in here.  
>   
> Try to keep profanity to a minimum! (I know you guys are awesome but just in case.  
> Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please be gentle, I'm very proud of my wonderous creation. :).  
> I'm such an unreliable idiot. . .  
> Hey, you know that thing where you make something, and you're so proud of yourself and your love-child you overlook all its flaws, and then you come back later and all you can do is cringe?  
> Yeaaah. . . I did that. XD. There are SO MANY plot holes, typos and things that are generally cringe-worthy in here. XD.  
> Thanks to the most people to leave kudos!  
> Also, does anyone know what a "hit" is? Because apparently this work's got like 283 of the things and I don't know whether to be happy or upset. Can someone educate me, please?


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